Two separate explosions in Badakhshan killed one of the top Taliban commanders, while another survived.
Kunduz, December 26 - Sangar, Jamshid Badakhshi. These incidents are also considered sparks of conflict between the Kandahar Taliban and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan.
A Sangar source in the Taliban police in Badakhshan, confirming this news, said that Mawlawi Abdulhaq Omari (or Abu Omar) was killed in an explosion that occurred at 8:30 am today, December 26, near the provincial police building.
“The bomb was planted in a Toyota Corolla. It exploded when the police chief and his bodyguards approached the Badakhshan police building. Of course, it was controlled by remote control. As a result of this explosion, three more people were killed - two bodyguards of the police chief and one civilian, several people were injured. Nothing remained of the body of Mawlawi Abdulhaq, except for one hand. His body has not been found,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the ISIS terrorist group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, posted a video of a car exploding near a house when 6 people were walking past it. Interestingly, this video is filmed from another vehicle leaving the scene. Apparently, the terrorists were waiting for Mawlawi Abdulhaq.
In a statement released by the ISIS news agency Amaq, members of the terrorist group chased the police chief for several days and determined that the distance between his home and his place of work was 200 meters.
At the same time, according to a Sangar source, another explosion occurred near the building of one of the brigades of the Umar III Taliban division in the city of Faizabad. His target was Qari Abdurahman, the commander of this brigade, who managed to survive.
Mawlawi Abdulhaq became the first high-ranking Taliban commander to die in such an attack since August 2021. Local sources in Badakhshan say that he had significant influence in the province. This is the same person who in April shot the fighters of the Pamir Tigers group of the Resistance Front in the Raghistan district of Badakhshan province.
Mawlawi Abdulhaq was from the Khosh district of Badakhshan. Mawlawi Nurulhoda, head of the National Security Service of Badakhshan, is also from Khosh.
Sangar's source says that the Taliban of other districts, especially Jurm, are extremely unhappy with the wide presence of the Khosh Taliban in the provincial security forces, and there has been competition between them for a long time. Badakhshan consists of 30 districts.
“The Khosh Taliban are close to Qari Fasihuddin, Chief of Staff of the Taliban Ministry of Defense, and Mawlawi Amanuddin, Governor of Badakhshan, who both belong to the Kandahar Taliban group. The Jurm Taliban are mainly linked to the Haqqani Network,” the source said.
In April of this year, the car of Mawlawi Fattah, head of the Mining and Oil Department of Badakhshan province, also from the Khosh district, was hit by a sticky mine in Faizabad, killing him and one of his bodyguards.
According to reliable information that Sangar has, the position of ISIS in Badakhshan is very weak, but the presence of Hizb ut-Tahrir and Al-Qaeda is very active. According to them, ISIS and Hizb ut-Tahrir (led by Mawlawi Mansour) operate under the auspices of the Haqqani Network.
In a word, these two incidents go back to disagreements between the Taliban themselves, which are now manifesting themselves in the provinces, primarily Badakhshan, a strategically important province bordering three countries - Tajikistan, China, and Pakistan.
