Taliban insurgents on Wednesday killed 30 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 on 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, according to Ziauddin Saqib, the deputy provincial police chief. Earlier reports suggested 20 were killed but the death toll rose later in the day.
The abductions took place while battles were underway between the Taliban and Afghan security forces on 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 also said, adding that the “cowardly insurgents killed innocent civilians in revenge for their commanders killed by security forces.”
There was no immediate statement from the Taliban on the incident in the largely lawless Ghor.
However, Abdul Hai Khateby, the spokesman for the provincial governor, said he is convinced 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 told The Associated Press, speaking over the telephone from Ghor.
The two different statements could not immediately be reconciled. Khateby also said he believed the abductions and killings were in revenge for the deaths of the two commanders.
The civilians who were abducted are all poor people from the area, mainly villagers and shepherds, and there were even children among those taken, said Khateby.
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 on Wednesday.
