A second Taliban official is killed in attack in Afghanistan, as the takeover anniversary nears

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The mayor for Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province has been killed in an explosion, officials said, the second high-ranking official of the Taliban administration to be the target of deadly attacks in the region in the past two weeks.

Habib Ur Rahman Mansoor was killed in the blast in the provincial capital of Faizabad late on Thursday while he was in his vehicle, the Interior Ministry said, without providing further details on the attack.

A senior official on Friday also confirmed the killing, which comes as the Taliban prepare to mark the fifth anniversary of their sweeping back to power on Aug. 15, 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S. and other NATO forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the incident.

Two weeks ago, a pair of gunmen shot and killed Zabihullah Amiri, Badakhshan’s director of information and culture, as he headed from a local district to Faizabad. His security guards immediately opened fire on the attackers, killing one and capturing the other, officials said.

There was no information on the motive for the attacks.

Targeted killings of high-ranking Taliban officials have been rare but not unknown since the Taliban seized power .

In December 2024, the country’s refugee minister, Khalil Haqqani, was killed in a suicide bombing in the capital Kabul. Haqqani was the uncle of Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani , who leads a powerful network within the Taliban.

In June 2023, a car bomb in Faizabad killed Badakhshan’s deputy governor, Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, as well as his driver. A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as a suicide bombing that struck a memorial service for the deputy governor days later, killing at least 13 people.

In March 2023, the governor of the northern province of Balkh was killed in a bomb attack on the governor’s office.