Mohebullah Mirzad Bandari, a former commander aligned with Abdul Rashid Dostum and a former member of the Faryab Provincial Council, was killed in an armed attack by unidentified gunmen in the city of Maimana, sources told Afghanistan International.

The incident occurred on the evening of Friday near the centre of Maimana, the capital of Faryab province. According to local sources, the attackers opened fire on Bandari and fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

Bandari had recently returned to Afghanistan through the Taliban’s Commission for the Return of Expatriates. He had been residing in Ghor province in recent months but travelled to Faryab last week at the invitation of the Taliban governor.

Following the fall of the former Afghan government in 2021, Bandari had fled to Iran. He later returned to the country through the Taliban’s formal repatriation programme.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the assassination. Further details about the incident remain unavailable.