“Two people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh, have been killed in an explosion this morning,” the province’s police spokesman Asif Waziri told AFP.
He said it was unclear what caused the blast.
The incident occurred at around 9:30 am when the governor arrived at his office from home.
“When the governor was coming to his office, the man blew himself up in the office. The governor and a local man were martyred. A mujahid along with another civilian was injured,” officials told Dawn.com.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Taliban usually blame such attacks on the banned terror outfit Daesh.
Muzammil is one of the highest-ranking Taliban officials to be killed in such circumstances since the group returned to power in August 2021.
He was initially appointed as the governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar where he led the fight against Islamic State militants, before being moved to Balkh last year.
