On the morning of Friday, November 14, 2025, Nowruz, an approximately 30-year-old father of two children, was killed in an armed attack in Qoto Sofla village, DaY Mirdad district, Maidan Wardak Province. The victim was shot as he left his home. His brother, Rahmatullah, who had followed him outside, was also shot and critically injured with a head wound. Rahmatullah was transferred to Emergency Hospital in Kabul and placed in a coma under medical care. According to local residents who confirmed the incident, Nowruz was an original resident of Qoto village. He and his family had been displaced to Kabul and other villages in recent years and had only recently returned to their ancestral home. Local sources reported that the four attackers had concealed themselves the night before the assault in the neighboring village of Qoto Ulya, which is uninhabited. On the morning of the attack, they approached Qoto Sofla through a mountain route and opened fire on Nowruz as he exited his home. Taliban intelligence authorities arrested four Kochi (nomadic Pashtuns) men on suspicion of involvement in the attack. The motive for the assault remains unclear; however, local sources indicated that Kochies had conducted repeated attacks on Qoto village residents in the past, forcing them to flee. According to these sources, more than 200 families once lived in both Qoto villages, but the area became largely uninhabited over the past decade due to repeated attacks. Nowruz's family was reportedly the first to return to the village within the past two years, driven by economic difficulties in Kabul. Local residents stated that the killing appeared aimed at preventing villagers from returning to their homes.