IS-K claims killing of Taliban official in Afghanistan

Islamic State-Khorasan claimed responsibility for killing a Taliban official in northeastern Afghanistan, monitoring organisation SITE Intelligence Group said.

Zabihullah Amiri, head of the information and culture department in Badakhshan, was shot dead Tuesday while travelling to the provincial capital, Faizabad.

SITE quoted Islamic State-Khorasan as saying Wednesday that its fighters targeted a Taliban commander with machine guns, killing him and one of his guards.

Afghanistan's information and culture ministry said one assailant was killed and a second was arrested after what it called a "cowardly attack".

Amiri was a nephew of Amanuddin Mansur, the governor of Helmand province.

Taliban officials have vowed to restore security since returning to power in 2021, but sporadic attacks have continued. Islamic State-Khorasan has claimed some of them, including a January explosion at a Chinese restaurant in central Kabul that killed at least seven people and a December 2024 suicide bombing in Kabul that killed refugees minister Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani.