KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources and Taliban officials have reported the killing of a lawyer in southeastern Khost province and a man in northern Jawzjan province, in two separate incidents.
Local sources in Khost said unidentified gunmen shot and killed a lawyer named Mufti Hedayatullah on Tuesday morning in Ismail Khel and Mandozai district.
According to the sources, Hedayatullah was a native resident of the district and was known for his knowledge of legal and religious jurisprudence. The motive for his killing remains unclear, and Taliban officials in Khost have not publicly commented on the incident.
Meanwhile, the Taliban police command in Jawzjan reported the killing of a man in Shah Mirza village of Khanqah district.
Abdul Sattar Halimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban police command in Jawzjan, said the man was shot dead inside his home on Monday night with a handgun.
Halimi said the man’s wife had been arrested by Taliban forces in connection with the killing and that an investigation into the motive was ongoing.
The two incidents come amid continuing concerns over killings, targeted attacks and other security incidents in Afghanistan. Although the Taliban have maintained that security has improved since they took control of the country in August 2021, the United Nations continues to document armed attacks, killings and other security-related incidents across the country.
The issue of unexplained and unidentified killings has also remained a concern. UNAMA has previously documented cases in which people were killed by unidentified perpetrators, while noting that the absence of claims of responsibility can make it difficult to establish who carried out attacks. The United Nations has repeatedly called on the Taliban authorities to conduct thorough investigations and ensure accountability for serious crimes.
UN reports also continue to record human rights violations and killings involving Taliban security personnel. A UNAMA report published in 2023 documented at least 800 cases of extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance involving former government officials and members of the former Afghan security forces between August 2021 and June 2023.
A March 2026 report by the rights group Rawadari documented at least 611 cases of targeted, mysterious, or extrajudicial killings and injuries across Afghanistan in 2025, marking an increase of more than 40% compared with the previous year.
