Taliban had earlier warned they would target senior administration officials in retaliation for increased air strikes.
The Taliban shot dead the head of the Afghan government’s media information centre on Friday near a mosque in the capital. This incident occurred days after Taliban warned that they would target senior administration figures in retaliation for increased air strikes.
As the war spills into Kabul for the first time in months, the assassination of one of the government’s leading voices, Dawa Khan Menapal, followed after another day of conflict and bloodshed in Afghanistan.
It also comes hours before the UN Security Council meets in New York to discuss the conflict.
Raging at the death of Dawa Khan Menapal, interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai said, “Unfortunately, the savage terrorists have committed a cowardly act once again and martyred a patriotic Afghan.”
Menapal was popular in Kabul’s tight-knit media community, and known for pillorying the Taliban on social media, even jokingly at times.
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Former presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said he was “utterly shocked and devastated. We lost another great soul.”
The Taliban took the responsibility for the death, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid sending a message to media saying “he was killed in a special attack carried out by mujahideen”.
The murder comes after the militants warned on Wednesday of more attacks targeting Afghan government leaders, a day after the defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi escaped an assassination attempt in a bomb-and-gun attack.
Taliban said, Tuesday’s Kabul raid was their response to the Afghan and US military’s increased air strikes in a string of cities.
After foreign forces began the final stage of a withdrawal from the country, fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict has intensified.
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