RASC News Agency: Local sources in Takhar province report that on the morning of Monday, February 17, an intelligence officer affiliated with the Taliban was assassinated by unidentified gunmen. According to sources, the slain officer, identified as Rahimullah, was a resident of Kheirabad village in the Dasht-e-Qala district. Further reports indicate that Rahimullah was the nephew of Rahmatullah, the Taliban’s police chief in Khwaja-Ghar district. Sources also reveal that during the previous Afghan republic, Rahimullah defected to the Taliban after killing four former police officers in Takhar, fleeing with a military tank and weaponry to join the insurgent group.
As of now, no group has claimed responsibility for the assassination, and the Taliban have yet to issue a statement regarding the incident. However, recent weeks have witnessed a surge in insurgent attacks targeting Taliban forces, particularly in northern and northeastern provinces, where opposition resistance fronts have intensified their operations. In the latest escalation, three separate armed engagements against Taliban positions were reported in Kunduz province within the past 24 hours. The Freedom Front and the National Resistance Front have claimed responsibility for two of these attacks.
Additionally, a powerful explosion recently struck outside Kabul Bank in central Kunduz, reportedly killing at least 25 individuals, including Taliban members, and injuring approximately 30 others, according to local sources. These developments come amid the Taliban’s continued assertions of maintaining nationwide security, yet their own ranks have increasingly become the target of coordinated resistance offensives, further destabilizing the region.
