Key facts
- Zabihullah Amiri, director of the Information and Culture Department in Badakhshan, was assassinated on Tuesday.
- The attack occurred near the provincial capital, Fayzabad.
Zabihullah Amiri, director of the Information and Culture Department in Badakhshan, was assassinated on Tuesday by two armed attackers near Fayzabad. One attacker was killed by Amiri's guards, while a search for the second is ongoing. The Interior Ministry did not assign blame for the attack.

The assassinations of a provincial official and the deputy governor in Badakhshan highlight ongoing security challenges and targeted violence in Afghanistan, even as the Taliban administration claims to be combating groups like the Islamic State.
Zabihullah Amiri, the director of the Information and Culture Department in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province, was assassinated on Tuesday by two armed attackers. The incident occurred as Amiri was en route to work near the provincial capital, Fayzabad. Amiri's guards engaged the attackers, killing one suspect in a shootout, while authorities continue to search for the second assailant. The Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed the assassination but did not attribute blame to any specific group. In a separate incident in the same province, Nissar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan, was killed along with his driver by a car bomb, which also injured six civilians. The motive behind both attacks remains unclear, and no group has claimed responsibility.