Taliban prison intelligence officer killed in Jalalabad attack

Local reports from Nangarhar province say Wahidullah Wasal, the head of prison intelligence in the province and a member of the Taliban administration, was attacked in central Jalalabad on Monday evening, October 5, and killed at the scene.

According to local sources, the attack took place near Mia Aslam Plaza, a busy commercial area in Jalalabad where the presence of Taliban administration forces is usually visible and where many civilians also move about.

Well-informed sources said Wasal had graduated in law and political science at the undergraduate level and had recently been working with the Taliban administration’s security structure as head of Nangarhar prison intelligence. The sources added that he was considered one of the active figures in the security sector in Nangarhar and that his movements were also monitored by Taliban administration forces.

Tayyeb Hamad, spokesman for the Taliban police command in Nangarhar, confirmed Wasal’s death and said the motive and those behind the attack have not yet been identified. However, Taliban officials have so far not provided information on how the attack was carried out, the escape route taken by the attackers, or details of the security arrangements for the official.

Following the incident, a group calling itself the National Mobilization Front, which identifies itself as opposed to the Taliban administration, claimed responsibility for the attack. An account linked to the group on the social media platform X published a video showing a motorcyclist approaching a pedestrian and then the sound of gunfire being heard.

The location of the video was said to be near the office of the telecommunications company e& and the Mia Aslam Plaza commercial complex. Despite the publication of these images, there is still no reliable information about the structure, members or operational background of the group, and its claim of responsibility has not been independently verified.

In recent months, alongside the rise in activity by anonymous accounts on social media under the names of anti-Taliban groups, similar claims have also been made, but the authenticity and operational capacity of many of them is unclear, and some of these accounts have remained limited to media activity alone.