The Taliban on Friday captured their first provincial capital just a few days after launching an offensive to coincide with the departure of foreign troops which has proven to be a major blow to an Afghan government desperately trying to push back the insurgents.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Roh Gul Khairzad, the deputy governor of Nimroz, confirmed that; ‘Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimroz, has fallen to the Taliban’.
She said the city — in southwest Afghanistan near the Iranian border — had been taken ‘without a fight’, and social media showed clips of insurgents roaming the streets, being cheered by residents
Africa Today News, New York reports that the fall of Zaranj comes the same day the Taliban claimed responsibility for killing the head of the Afghan government’s media information department.
Read Also: 33 Taliban Militants Killed in Afghan Air Force Strikes
The insurgents warned this week they would target senior administration figures in retaliation for increased airstrikes.
The assassination on Friday of Dawa Khan Menapal, one of the government’s leading voices, followed another bloody day of fighting as the war increasingly spills into Kabul.
The news from Nimroz also comes as the UN Security Council met in New York to discuss the conflict.
Deborah Lyons, head of the world body’s Afghan aid operation, painted a grim picture of the country’s deteriorating situation.
‘The Security Council must issue an unambiguous statement that attacks against cities must stop now,’ Lyons said via video-link from Kabul.
In the Afghan capital, officials expressed shock at the fatal shooting of Menapal.
‘Unfortunately, the savage terrorists have committed a cowardly act once again and martyred a patriotic Afghan,’ said interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai.
Menapal was popular in Kabul’s tight-knit media community, and known for pillorying the Taliban on social media — even jokingly at times.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid sent a message to the media saying Menapal “was killed in a special attack carried out by mujahideen”.
The murder comes after the militants warned Wednesday of more attacks targeting Afghan government leaders.
The day before, defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi escaped an assassination attempt in a bomb-and-gun attack.
The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up air strikes in their fight against the insurgents in a string of cities, and the Taliban said Tuesday’s Kabul attack was their response.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK