The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) says its fighters attacked the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice headquarters in Maimana, the capital of Faryab province, on Sunday evening.

The group says two Taliban members were killed, though a spokesperson for the ministry denied the claim and said the assault had been foiled.

In its statement, the AFF said the operation had been pre-planned and targeted a gathering of the Taliban’s morality police as they were leaving the building. It added that the fate of the head of the Taliban’s Vice and Virtue office in Maimana remained unclear.

The AFF accused the Taliban’s morality officers of assembling at the centre each day before patrolling the city in groups of three to five to harass residents, particularly women.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue said in a post on X that an armed militant had attempted to attack employees of the Maimana office but was stopped before reaching his target. He gave no further details about the attacker or how the assault was prevented.

The AFF says it has previously targeted Taliban morality personnel in Kabul, Takhar, Kapisa and several other provinces.