Senior Taliban Commander Abdul Qayyum Zakir Killed, Says Saleh

Former vice-president Amrullah Saleh said that senior Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir has been killed. Saleh quoted surgeons of Kabul’s 400-bed hospital as saying that Zakir had been severely injured and was transferred outside the country for treatment.

Earlier, the Taliban had denied Abdul Qayyum Zakir getting injured.

In a Facebook post, Saleh wrote that doctors of the 400-bed hospital called off Abdul Qayyum’s surgery in Kabul due to the possible reaction of the Taliban, and this Taliban commander was transferred outside the country.

However, Saleh stressed that the details of the transfer is unknown.

Qayyum Zakir is one of the Taliban’s senior military commanders who recently had been appointed as the Taliban’s war commander in Panjshir and Andarab by Hibatullah Akhundzada, leader of the group.

Following intense clashes between the National Resistance Front (NRF) and the Taliban in Panjshir, sources told Afghanistan International that Zakir has been injured on September 12 in Dare Abdullah Khel and had been transferred to Kabul for treatment.

Despite the Taliban denying the injury of Abdul Qayyum Zakir, in the past weeks, multiple reports of his injury and even death have been published.