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

KABUL, Afghanistan – The mayor of Afghanistan's northeastern Badakhshan province, Habib Ur Rahman Mansoor, was killed in an explosion on Thursday, marking the second high-ranking official of the Taliban administration to face a deadly attack in the region within two weeks. The Interior Ministry confirmed the killing, but provided no additional details on the attack.

The incident occurs as the Taliban prepare to commemorate the fifth anniversary of their return to power on August 15, 2021, following the U.S. and NATO forces' withdrawal.

Two weeks earlier, a pair of gunmen killed Zabihullah Amiri, Badakhshan's director of information and culture, while he was on his way to Faizabad. The security guards of Amiri's team shot and killed one of the attackers and captured the other. The motive behind the attacks remains undisclosed. Although targeted killings of high-ranking Taliban officials are not common, they have not been unheard of since the Taliban took control.

In December 2024, the refugee minister, Khalil Haqqani, was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, his uncle Sirajuddin Haqqani – who leads a powerful network within the Taliban – remaining the Interior Minister. In June 2023, a car bomb in Faizabad killed Badakhshan's deputy governor, Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, along with his driver. The Islamic State group's regional affiliate claimed responsibility for this attack, as well as a suicide bombing during a memorial service for the deputy governor days later, which resulted in at least 13 deaths.