Afghanistan Times
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By Mansoor Faizy-KABUL: Taliban insurgents massacred more than 30 civilians including children and women in northern Sar-i-Pul province, provincial official said on Sunday.
After gaining control of Mirza Walang village in Sayyad district, the Taliban insurgents opened fire on civilians, killing dozens.
The provincial governor, Zahir Wahdat, told newsmen that vampire terrorists by taking control of Mirza Walang, committed brutal killing of civilians.
“According to preliminary reports, the insurgents have shot dead 30 to 40 innocent people in the most brutal manner,” he said, adding that children, women and elders were among those killed.
The insurgents also torched mosques, the governor added.
Moreover, the Provincial Governor Spokesman, Zabihullah Amani, said that “only few” of those killed belonged to the local uprising group fighting the militants, but the rest were civilians.
He said that after Taliban captured the area, most of the villagers fled to the Sayyad district center, but some of them stuck as the Taliban insurgents blocked road for them.
“We saved most of the villagers by transporting them to the Sayyad district center; otherwise the number of victims could be higher.”
Taliban have also taken cell-phones of the trapped local people in the area where communication was not properly established, he said, adding that sporadic fighting was still under way between security forces and the Taliban insurgents.
10 Taliban fighters have been killed in the retaken operation of the Afghan security forces, he said, while lamented over death of seven local policemen in the clash.
The Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack, but not for civilian deaths.
Sar-i-Pul is among the insecure provinces in northern Afghanistan, where the Taliban control a big number of villages in remote areas of the province.
Beside military personnel, the Afghan masses have been the primary victims of Taliban misrule since longtime. Afghan masses have been bearing the brunt of casualties at most. 2017 so far proved deadly for the masses as only in Kabul more than 1,000 civilians were killed and wounded.
A Taliban spokesman rejected the claim, saying only 28 local uprisers were killed in the gun-battle and civilians were not killed or injured in the fight.
