Officials: Taliban kill 26 civilians
Afghan president condemns attack in lawless region
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents on Wednesday killed 26 Afghan civilians after abducting them in the remote central province of Ghor the previous day, officials said, the latest brutal attack targeting the local population in one of the country’s most lawless areas.
The slain civilians were from a group of 33 taken by the militants near the provincial capital of Ferozkoh, said Ziauddin Saqib, the deputy provincial police chief.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office condemned the attack in Ghor, saying that “once again, the enemies of the Afghan people carried out another attack on civilians and killed innocent people.”
The abductions took place while battles were underway between the Taliban and Afghan security forces Tuesday that saw two militant commanders killed, Saqib added.
Both commanders were infamous figures in Ghor and were involved in many anti-government activities, Saqib said, adding that the “cowardly insurgents killed innocent civilians in revenge for their commanders killed by security forces.”
There was no statement from the Taliban in the largely lawless Ghor.
However, Abdul Hai Khateby, spokesman for the provincial governor, said he believes the militants behind the attacks and abductions were a renegade Taliban group that had sworn allegiance last year to Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate.
“The group is former Taliban who just a year ago announced their support to their Islamic State group and changed their white flag to black,” Khateby said by telephone from Ghor.
The different statements could not immediately be reconciled.
Khateby also said he believed the abductions and killings were in revenge for the deaths of the commanders.
The civilians who were abducted are all poor people from the area, mainly villagers and shepherds, and there were children among those taken, Khateby said.
He said that the victims’ families and relatives, along with other residents of Ghor, held a protest rally near the governor’s office in Ferozkoh, the provincial capital, later Wednesday.
The demonstrators denounced the government, which they said cannot protect the local population.
“The locals were so angry and they were throwing stones toward the governor’s building,” he said.
No one was hurt in the protest, which ended with the help of tribal leaders who mediated between the crowd and the authorities.
Amnesty International denounced the Ghor killings as a “horrendous crime.”
The watchdog quoted Champa Patel, Amnesty’s South Asia director, as saying “there can be no justification whatsoever for targeting and killing civilians under any circumstances.”
“The victims and their families deserve justice,” Amnesty added, urging Kabul to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Ghor is one of Afghanistan’s poorest and least developed provinces, with many areas outside Ferozkoh believed to be under Taliban control.
In a report from eastern Paktika province, 17 people were wounded when a bomb went off Wednesday at a marketplace in the provincial capital of Sharan.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said its forces are waging operations in 15 provinces.