Taliban fighters on Friday assassinated the Afghanistan government's top media and information officer in the capital Kabul, the hardline militant group said. 

Dawa Khan Menapal, head of the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC), had been killed, an official in the federal interior ministry confirmed, adding that "the savage terrorists killed" him during Friday prayers. 

"He (Menapal) was a young man who stood like a mountain in the face of enemy propaganda, and who was always a major supporter of the (Afghan) regime," said Mirwais Stanikzai, a spokesperson for the interior ministry.

The Taliban outfit has claimed responsibility for attacking and killing Menapal.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for Taliban, said on his Twitter account, "the Mujahidin (Taliban fighters) conducted a special attack and killed Dawa Khan Menapal the chief of government media center in Kabul today." 

A former journalist, Menapal had also served as deputy spokesman for the presidential palace in the past years. He was killed in a targeted attack in the Darul Aman area of Kabul and two other people were injured in the attack. 

The Taliban already control large portions of the countryside, and are now challenging Afghan government forces in several large cities. 

The militants warned Wednesday of more attacks targeting Afghan government leaders, a day after the defense minister escaped an assassination attempt. 

The bomb-and-gun attack on Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi Tuesday night brought the war to the capital for the first time in months. 

(With input from agencies)