Story thread · 13 reports / 11 sources

Islamic State-Kho­rasan claims killing of Taliban official in Afghanistan

dawn.com · 11dShare

KABUL: A regional br­­a­­nch of the militant Is­­la­­mic State group has clai­med a rare deadly at­­tack on a Taliban official in northeastern Afghanis­tan, a monitoring group said. The head of the inform­ation and culture department in Badakhshan, Zabihullah Amiri, was shot dead on Tuesday while en route to the provincial capital Faizabad. The Islamic State-Kho­rasan (IS-K) group claimed on Wednesday that it had carried out the attack. “The soldiers of the Caliphate targeted a commander from the apostate Taliban militia… with machine guns, killing him along with one of his guards,” it said in a statement quoted by monitoring organisation SITE Intelligence Group. Amiri was a nephew of Amanuddin Mansur, the governor of southern Helmand. Afghanistan’s information and culture ministry said one of the assailants was killed and a second arrested after the “cowardly attack”. The ministry “reminds the enemies of the Islamic government that such cowardly acts will never weaken our firm resolve

First report: Badakhshan information chief killed in targeted attack — khaama.com, 14d