Top Taliban governor of Afghan province killed in suicide attack

The Taliban governor of Afghanistan’s Balkh province, known for fighting against Islamic State (Isis) jihadists, was killed in a suicide attack at his office on Thursday, officials said.

The killing, a day after he met top government officials visiting from Kabul, makes Mohammad Dawood Muzammil one of the highest-ranking figures slain since the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021.

Violence across Afghanistan has dramatically dropped since the Taliban seized control, but the security situation has again deteriorated with IS claiming several deadly attacks.

“Two people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh, have been killed in an explosion this morning,” local police spokesman Asif Waziri said, adding that the blast happened on the second floor of his office, in the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif.

“It was a suicide attack. We don’t have information as to how the suicide bomber reached the office of the governor,” he said, adding that two people were also wounded.

The explosion happened moments after the governor arrived in his office, said Khairuddin, who was wounded in the incident and in a hospital in Mazar-i-Sharif.