Kabul, Jan 4 (IANS): A Taliban intelligence operative has been arrested in Afghanistan's Balkh province, army spokesman said on Monday.

Azizullah, who worked for the Taliban group and whose task was to identify the security personnel, was arrested in Mazar-I-Sharif city, Xinhua news agency quoted the army spokesman northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai, as saying.

The arrested operative has admitted his membership with the Taliban spy network, Rezai added.

Without providing more details, the spokesman said that identifying security personnel by the arrested man had enabled Taliban militants to organise targeted attacks.

Targeted attacks have increased in Afghan big cities including the capital city Kabul over the past couple of months and security officials have blamed the Taliban.

The development comes as six journalists have been killed in various incidents of targeted attacks across Afghanistan in the last two months.

Since January 2020, 11 Afghan journalists and media workers have been killed in such attacks, making it one of the deadliest years.