A senior Taliban official has been assassinated in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan, where violence has flared in recent weeks.The killing on August 13 came amid ongoing clashes between Taliban fighters and a dissident commander in Badakhshan’s Nusai district, located along the border with Tajikistan.Vast and mountainous, Badakhshan has witnessed a spate of attacks in recent weeks. Experts say anti-Taliban armed groups are feeding off ethnic tensions, disputes over control of resources, and local grievances against the Taliban.
Habibur Rahman Mansur, mayor of the provincial capital, Faizabad, was killed on August 13 after his vehicle was targeted by a bomb, sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. The attack was claimed by the National Resistance Front, an armed opposition group.It came just weeks after another Taliban official was gunned down in Badakhshan. Zabihullah Amiri, head of the provincial information and culture department, was killed by two men on motorbikes on July 28, the Taliban said.The attack was claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group, which has posed the biggest threat to the Taliban since it seized power in 2021 after the withdrawal international forces.Mansur’s killing came amid ongoing clashes between the Taliban and fighters loyal to dissident commander Juma Khan Fateh. Sources told Radio Azadi that the Taliban has deployed additional fighters and helicopters to Nusai.One of the helicopters was shot down by Fateh’s fighters, sources in Darvoz, the district in Tajikistan bordering Nusai, told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service.A 21-year-old woman in Darvoz was struck and killed by a stray bullet, according to Tajik authorities.Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to the Taliban and called on the group to “take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.”
