Taliban top official, two others killed in explosion

The Taliban appointed governor of Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province, Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, has been killed in an explosion in his office.

Muzammil’s killing along with two other people on Thursday, comes a day after he met top government officials who visited the region from the capital Kabul.

Police spokesman, Asif Waziri, said the blast happened on the second floor of Muzammil’s office in the provincial capital of Mazar-i-Sharif.

“Two people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh, have been killed in an explosion this morning,” Waziri said.

“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.

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The killing of Muzammil, known for his resistance to the ISIL in the area, makes it one of the highest-ranking figures slain since the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021.

Taliban government’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, wrote on Twitter that Muzammil was “martyred in an explosion by the enemies of Islam.”

Muzammil was initially appointed governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar, where he led the fight against ISIL, before being moved to Balkh last year.

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