Afghan official says Taliban killed intel officer in Helmand

The Taliban ambushed and killed an Afghan intelligence official in southern Helmand province as he was walking home from work, an official said Thursday. It was the latest deadly attack by insurgents even as they hold peace talks with a U.S. envoy.

The officer, who headed the intelligence department's press office for the province, was ambushed late on Wednesday, according to the Helmand police chief’s spokesman Zaman Hamdard. Another member of the intelligence department was wounded in the attack, the spokesman said. An investigation was underway to find the perpetrators, Hamdard added. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban now control or hold sway over roughly half of Afghanistan and continue to stage near-daily attacks targeting Afghan and U.S. forces, Kabul government officials or those seen as linked to the government — even as they hold peace talks with the U.S. and have given the U.S. envoy a document outlining their offer for a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan.