The body of Gen. Ikramuddin Saree, the police chief of Takhar province under the previous government, who was killed in an attack in Tehran last week, was buried on Saturday in the Iranian capital, sources said.
Saree, who was an outspoken critic of the Taliban, was shot dead along with one companion by assailants on motorcycles in central Tehran, according to people familiar with the incident.
Iranian media have described the killing as a serious security breach and some commentators have linked it to what they called Tehran’s flawed approach toward the Taliban.
The reformist daily Jomhouri Eslami said in an editorial that the assassination pointed to a “complex security conspiracy” and warned that Iran was now facing the consequences of policy mistakes in its dealings with the Taliban. The paper urged Iranian security agencies to respond decisively and prevent Taliban influence inside Iran.
Iranian security authorities have not publicly commented on the killing, and no official account of the incident has been released.
Relatives of Saree and several figures from Afghanistan’s former government have alleged that the killing was carried out by Taliban-linked operatives in Tehran.
Mohammad Alam Izadyar, a former deputy speaker of Afghanistan’s upper house of parliament, said the killing had raised alarm among former Afghan military officials living abroad. “The Taliban are pursuing a systematic campaign to physically eliminate former security figures, including those outside Afghanistan,” he said.
A close associate of Saree said he had only one enemy. “General Saree was assassinated in a cowardly attack by Taliban infiltrators in the heart of Tehran,” he said, calling for a transparent investigation.
The Taliban did not respond to requests for comment.
Saree’s family has also warned against what it described as attempts to exploit his killing for financial or political purposes, urging the public not to donate money in their name.
The killing follows other attacks on former Afghan military figures in Iran. Earlier this year, a former commander linked to Ismail Khan was also killed in the city of Mashhad, an incident on which Iranian authorities have not released details.
