ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack on Pro-Taliban Religious Figures in Baghlan

Local sources from Baghlan province report that armed assailants carried out an attack on Tuesday night in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district, killing a pro-Taliban cleric and wounding another individual. The attack was claimed by ISIS.

According to reports received by Afghanistan International, the attack targeted Abdul Razzaq, an imam and religious teacher, while Hamdullah Mohammadi, the district's Friday prayer cleric, sustained critical injuries.

Witnesses describe Abdul Razzaq as a staunch supporter of the Taliban, and his death marks another incident in the ongoing campaign of violence by ISIS against Taliban-affiliated clerics.

This is not the first instance of ISIS targeting pro-Taliban religious figures. In August 2022, ISIS assassinated Mawlawi Rahimullah Haqqani, a prominent Taliban-affiliated scholar, in a deadly attack in Kabul.