A regional branch of the Islamic State group has claimed a rare deadly attack on a Taliban official in northeastern Afghanistan, a monitoring group said.

The head of the information and culture department in Badakhshan, Zabihullah Amiri, was shot dead Tuesday while en route to the provincial capital Faizabad. The Islamic State-Khorasan group -- the chapter in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- said Wednesday it carried out the attack.

“The soldiers of the Caliphate targeted a commander from the apostate Taliban militia... with machine guns, killing him along with one of his guards,” it said in a statement quoted by monitoring organisation SITE Intelligence Group.

Amiri was a nephew of Amanuddin Mansur, governor of Helmand province. Afghanistan’s information and culture ministry said one of the assailants was killed.