Bismillah Adil Aimaq, a journalist and human rights activist, was shot dead by unknown gunmen in western Ghor province of Afghanistan, TOLOnews reported. The 28-year-old journalist becomes the sixth one to be killed in the last two months in targeted assassinations. 

The slain journalist was the head of a local radio station. He was killed on Friday in Feroz Koh district of Ghor province, confirmed Arif Abir, the spokesperson of the provincial governor. 

No group claimed the responsibility for the attack. Zabihulllah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, denied the role of the insurgent group in the killing of the journalist.

In another incident on the same day, Abdi  Jahid, a civil society activist, was also killed in Kabul by unknown gunmen. Confirming the incident, police informed Abdi was a civil society activist from Baghlan province.

Last week, Rahmatullah Nekzad, a journalist who was working with The Associated Press, was also killed in Ghazni province. NDS (Afghan intelligence agency) subsequently claimed to have arrested two people in the incident. 

The government and the Taliban are to resume their talks on 5 January.  The issue of the killing of journalists will be discussed in the next round of the intra-Afghan talks in Doha, said Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the Afghan negotiation team, on Friday. The killing of journalists and members of civil societies is a serious issue. 

As the talks' progress, these killings are another method of silencing those who support the idea of preserving the gains of the last 20 years in Afghanistan.