Blast kills Taliban governor in his office in Afghanistan

By Celine Alkhaldi, Ehsan Popalzai and Kathleen Magramo, CNN

A Taliban governor in northern Afghanistan has been killed by an explosion in his office, police officials have told CNN.

Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh province, died along with two others in the blast on Thursday, said the provincial police force’s spokesman Asif Waziri.

The cause of the explosion remains unclear, but Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the men had been killed “by the enemies of Islam.”

However, he did not identify the suspects and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“An investigation into the incident is underway,” Mujahid said.

The governor is one of the most senior officials to have been killed since the radical Islamist group retook control of the country in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US forces.

Since then, the Islamic State militant group and its affiliates have claimed a series of deadly attacks in Afghanistan both on civilians and members of the Taliban.

These have included an attack at a Sikh temple that killed at least two people, a string of incidents in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, and a suicide bomb blast at Kabul airport.

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