HERAT CITY/ FAYZABAD (SW): Raging violence has claimed multiple civilian lives as officials confirmed the death of four telecommunication engineers, a journalist and five civilians in Herat, Badakhshan and Logar provinces respectively on Saturday.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the governor of Herat said the four engineers associated with the Etisalat Telecommunication Company were abducted a week earlier. He told SW, the Taliban killed them on all on Friday when one of the engineer tried to escape. Ehsan said the militants demanded a million afn from each abductee’s family in return for their release.
“Two Taliban rebels have been arrested in this regard”, he said.
A journalist lost life in northeastern Badakhshan province Friday evening to a landmine, officials told SW. The mine was placed near the main entrance to local journalist Yama Behroz’s residence. Local officials said Behroz’s father works for the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the mine was likely placed to target him not the journalist.
Also in Badakhshan, a shadow Taliban district chief has been nabbed with his six allies in the Kishim district. The militants on the other end have killed reportedly at least six Afghan National Police (ANP) men in a mosque in the Baharak district.
Separately, a landmine explosion in Logar’s Azara district has claimed the lives of five civilians. These civilians, including two women were on their way to the capital Kabul when the mine hit their vehicle. Government forces on the other end have eliminated six rebels in the restive Mohammad Agha’s Zarghoon Shar area.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) claimed to have killed over 60 Militants in past 24 hours
The operations were conducted in Kunduz, Badakhshan, Balkh, Oruzgan, Logar, Ghazni, Paktika and Paktiya provinces, as a result 67 armed insurgents were killed, 135 wounded and 14 others were arrested by Afghan National Security Forces, it said.
ENDS
