A blast hit the capital of Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province on Saturday, police said, days after an explosion claimed by Islamic State killed the province’s governor.
“A blast has taken placed in the second police district of Balkh…. We will share details later,” said Mohamad Asif Waziri, Balkh’s police spokesperson, adding they did not expect the number of casualties to be high but were still investigating.
Taliban authorities are investigating an explosion that killed the provincial governor and two others at his office on Thursday.
“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 had told AFP.
He said it was unclear what caused the blast.
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 jihadists, before being moved to Balkh last year.
(with inputs from AFP)
