Several months after the region’s police head was assassinated in a related attack that the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for, the acting governor of an Afghan province was killed by a suicide bomber on Tuesday, according to officials.
Security has significantly increased since the Taliban retook control in August 2021, toppling the US-backed administration and putting an end to their two-decade insurgency, but IS still poses a threat.
In the provincial capital of Faizabad, the bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into the car carrying Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, who had served as the acting governor of northern Badakhshan until last month.
“The target of this attack was the vehicle carrying Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi,” said Muazuddin Ahmadi, the head of culture and information in the province.
Six other people were hurt in the incident, which has not yet been claimed, along with the driver.
In a suicide bombing in December of last year, the provincial police chief was slain.
The chief of the mining department was also slain by a bombing in April of last year.
Although the IS and the Taliban both adhere to a strict form of Sunni Islam, the IS is more outwardly focused on establishing a global caliphate than the Taliban is on governing an independent Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban government regained control, IS has carried out assaults that have left hundreds dead or injured, some of which targeted foreigners in an effort to topple the Taliban administration.
