The Governor of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s Balkh province was killed in a blast at his office on March 9 morning. Governor Mohammad Dawood Muzammil and one other person were killed in the explosion that was likely a suicide attack.
“Two people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh, have been killed in an explosion this morning on the second floor of his office, in the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif,” police spokesman Asif Waziri said.
“Today around 9am a blast took place inside the second floor of the governor’s office, due to the blast (governor) Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil has been killed with two civilians,” said Mohammed Asif Waziri, Balkh’s police spokesperson.
“It was a suicide attack. We don’t have information as to how the suicide bomber reached the office of the governor,” he said, adding that two people were also wounded.
The incident occurred at around 9:30 am when the governor arrived at his office from home.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that Muzammil was martyred in an explosion by the ‘enemies of Islam’ and investigation is under way.
Mohammad Dawood Muzammil is one of the highest-ranking Taliban officials to be killed in such a circumstance since the group took over Afghanistan in 2021. Muzammil was initially appointed as the governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar where he led the fight against the Islamic State before he was moved to Balkh last year.
Muzammil’s death comes a day after he met two deputy prime ministers and other senior officials visiting Balkh to review a major irrigation project in northern Afghanistan, a government statement said.
Several attacks have rocked the Balkh province, some claimed by the Islamic State. In December last year, a roadside bomb killed seven petroleum company employees aboard a bus in Mazar-i-Sharif city of the province.
Also in December, 19 people were killed and 24 injured by a blast at a madrassa in Aybak, southeast of the city.
