KABUL: KABUL: A senior spokesman from the Afghanistan government was assassinated in Kabul on Friday, officials confirmed, while the Taliban claimed responsibility for the killing.

Dawa Khan Menapal was a spokesman for president Ashraf Ghani before he took over the country’s government information media center in April.

Officials say Menapal was killed at a mosque.

“The terrorists, enemies of Afghanistan, once again resorted to a cowardice act and killed Menapal during Friday prayers," Mirwais Stanekzai, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Interior Affairs, told Arab News.

The killing on Friday came days after the Taliban had warned they would target administration officials. On Wednesday, eight civilians were killed in Kabul when the Taliban bombed the residence of Defense Minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi. The minister survived the attack.

Other attacks have been on the rise across Afghanistan since US-led troops began their withdrawal in May. As a result of the withdrawl, the Taliban have overrun scores of districts and several border crossings while the group has laid siege on key cities.

While Afghan officials declined to comment on the Taliban’s latest advances, reports on Friday said the militants had captured large swathes of Sheberghan, the capital of the northern Jowzan Province, and seized Zaranj, the provincial capital of Nimroz in the southwestern part of the country.

The government estimates that tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes across the country. The escalation of violence casts doubts over the future of US-sponsored, intra-Afghan peace talks that began nearly a year ago to reach a power-sharing agreement in the war-battered country as US-led foreign troops withdraw.

Hours before Menapal’s assassination, Ross Wilson, charge d'affaires of the US Embassy in Kabul, wrote on social media that the Taliban had no interest in peace.

“The Taliban’s violence and hate have never been sustainable forms of governance,” Wilson posted on Twitter. “The group’s previous beheadings as well as current offensives and targeted killings show that they only know violence and are scared of peace.”

The US will end its combat mission in Afghanistan by Aug. 31, nearly 20 years after it had invaded the country and toppled the Taliban for protecting former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America.