A former Afghan police commander, Ikramuddin Sari, was shot dead in Iran’s capital Tehran on Wednesday evening, in what is the second killing of an anti-Taliban figure in the country in recent months.
Local reports said he was attacked alongside two associates near their residence in southern Tehran and died while being transferred to hospital. One of the two men accompanying him was also killed, while the other sustained injuries.
Iranian police have not commented on the incident, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations for the anti-Taliban National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRF), confirmed Sari’s death in a post on X, alleging Taliban involvement. The NRF called on Iran to conduct a “transparent, serious and independent” investigation, describing the killing as a “targeted terrorist act.”
The Taliban authorities have not issued a statement. They have previously denied carrying out operations outside Afghanistan.
This is the second reported killing of an anti-Taliban figure in Iran in recent months. Four months earlier, another Afghan commander, Maroof Ghulami, was shot dead in Mashhad by unidentified gunmen.
Sari had been living in Tehran since 2021. He served as police chief of Baghlan between 2017 and 2019 under former president Ashraf Ghani, and later as police chief of Takhar before the Taliban takeover in 2021.
According to sources cited by the BBC, Sari had been helping former Afghan security personnel obtain Iranian residency permits to avoid deportation. The sources said he received a phone call shortly before the attack from someone seeking assistance with such documents.