Mysterious killing of two key ISKP commanders in Afghanistan’s Kunar province

In a remote mountainous area of Asmar district in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, two key ISKP commanders, Mohammad Saeed alias Abu Bakr and Aman Gul Gujar, were brutally beheaded and killed by unidentified armed individuals on 28 June 2025. According to local sources, both Saeed and Gujar were native to Kunar and had been active and prominent ISKP commanders in various areas of their home province for several years. They were reportedly involved in multiple incidents of murder and abduction.

News of ISKP members being killed in intelligence operations by Afghan Taliban forces in Kunar frequently surfaces in the media, often accompanied by footage of their bodies. However, this method of execution—beheading—has not been seen in these earlier incidents. For instance, in December 2024, Taliban forces killed an ISKP member named Hamas, from Kunar’s Manogi district, in an intelligence-based operation in Narang district. Prior to that, in October 2024, two ISKP commanders were killed in Manogi district in another intelligence operation. It was claimed they were involved in an improvised explosive device attack in Kunar earlier that year.

The beheading of Saeed and Gujar has raised several questions. One possibility being considered is that they were victims of personal revenge. Another possibility is that their killing was the result of internal disputes or rivalries within ISKP. Beheading is a method typically used by ISKP as punishment for alleged betrayal, defection, or espionage. For example, in January 2024, ISKP beheaded two local individuals in separate incidents in the Chowki district of Kunar, and these killings were claimed in issues 425 and 427 of IS’s weekly magazine, Al-Naba.

Saeed and Gujar, who were known as significant ISKP commanders in Kunar, were killed in a manner that strongly suggests either an act of retaliation for a past incident or that they became victims of internal ISKP rivalries.