Afghan anti-Taliban commander killed in suicide bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan

A leading anti-Taliban militia leader has been killed in a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan, a local official said Sunday.

Haji Faizullah was killed alongside another man when a young man on a bicycle targeted him in a market in Shrin Tagab district, Faryab province, on Sunday afternoon, district chief Saed Loqman Gahrik said. Three bodyguards were injured.

“Haji Faizullah succumbed to injuries at Afghan-Turk hospital in Maymana city,” Gahrik told Anadolu Agency.

Faizullah commanded a successful militia involved in combating the Taliban alongside Afghan security forces. He belonged to the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, the party of Vice President Abdul Rasheed Dostum, himself a powerful former warlord.

Taliban militants and foreign fighters have recently moved to northern Afghanistan, particularly Faryab province, after a successful Pakistani army operation.