IS claims killing of Taliban official

. AFP July 31, 2026 Less than a minute read KABUL: A regional branch of the 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 Tuesday while en route to the provincial capital Faizabad. The Islamic State-Khorasan group said Wednesday it 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 province.