A senior Islamic State Khorasan (IS-KP) operational commander accused of planning attacks inside Pakistan was shot dead in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, security sources said Friday.
The militant, identified as Muhammad Ihsani, also known by the alias Anwar, was an ethnic Tajik described by intelligence officials as IS-KP’s lead facilitator for Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Unknown gunmen opened fire on him late Thursday, killing him on the spot. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to Pakistani counter-terrorism officials, Ihsani specialised in training and escorting Tajik suicide bombers into Pakistan. He was wanted in connection with the Kocha Risaldar mosque bombing in Peshawar in 2022, an attack that killed 67 worshippers.
A separate ISKP operative from Tajikistan was killed recently in a Pakistani intelligence-based operation that authorities say disrupted a planned attack on a church in Peshawar.
Afghan authorities have not publicly commented on the Mazar-i-Sharif killing. The Taliban government has repeatedly denied that foreign militants operate on Afghan soil, but Pakistan and other regional states contend that Islamic State and other extremist networks continue to use Afghanistan as a base.
