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| Afghanistan |
| Karousing through Kunduz: 2 die |
| 2016-06-03 |
| Taliban kill 2 more kidnapped passengers in Kunduz province [Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs have killed two more kidnapped passengers in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan, local officials said Thursday. The officials further added that the two passengers were among 10 in jug of the Taliban after they were kidnapped on Tuesday morning. Provincial security chief Mohammad Masoom Hashemi said the Talibs handed over the dead bodies of the kidnapped passengers to the residents of Chardara district. This comes as earlier reports suggested at least 17 of the kidnapped passengers have been killed by the Taliban insurgnets but the local officials are saying 13 of them were killed and 10 others were kept in their custody. The Taliban Lions of Islam kidnapped at least 185 passengers after establishing check post in Shina Tepa area of Aliabad district around 2 am local time on Tuesday. The majority of the passengers were released after they were interrogated and but some of them were killed. In the meantime, the security officials said Wednesday that 10 of the passengers were rescued during a security operation launched following the kidnapping. The Taliban group said the passengers kept in their custody are members of the security forces who were travelling in the buses in civilian clothes. Taliban's Massacre of Passengers Sparks Outrage Thousands of protestors flocked to the streets of Kabul and Badakhshan provinces on Thursday to express their outrage over the recent killing of several bus passengers by Taliban militants. ‎ The incident occurred on Tuesday on the Kunduz-Baghlan highway. Protestors in Kabul who staged the demonstration at the call of Green Trend strongly condemned the Taliban for the murders and called on government to explain its policy on the new Taliban leader. "We are here to express our hatred and resentment against a terrorist group known as Taliban," protestor Nasir Ahmad Farahmand said. "If they (government) can not maintain law and order in society and can not describe the friend and foe, then what does government want from the nation," a member of Green Trend, Mahmood Akbari said.‎ "The purpose of our participation is to seek justice for those who were killed and taken hostage on Kunduz-Baghlan highway," another protester Mashallah Harakat said. In the northern regions, hundreds of protesters poured on to the streets in Faizabad city, the center of Badakhshan province, to denounce the act of violence against the innocent civilians. Protesters called on government to take swift action and serve justice on the perpetrators who planned the act of terrorism against the passengers. "People must unite with the security forces and seek revenge of the blood of our civilians from the Taliban," a resident of Badakhshan Ziauddin Wasiq said. "We want the government to clarify its confusing policy toward the Taliban after Mansour and the recent crime which has been committed from the address of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the government must act and declare Hibatullah and his party as a terrorist organization to the United Nations," a protestor in Badakhshan, Mohammad Osman Sayedkhaili said. Meanwhile, The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement Thursday it is deeply concerned at the spate of abductions, hostage-taking and summary executions carried out in recent days against passengers travelling in civilian vehicles. Two incidents of mass kidnappings have taken place since Tuesday. In the first incident, armed Taliban fighters stopped a number of busses on the Kunduz-Baghlan highway in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Insurgents executed 10 men from a group of nearly 200 men, women and children. The bulk of the hostages were freed but ten remained. Insurgents subsequently beheaded two of the eight. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has also condemned the Taliban for carrying out the brutal crime against the passengers. "No one is supposed to gain something from the killing of innocents, the act of oppression which was committed against the civilians in Kunduz deserves strong condemnation, because the act is an act of crime and repression," Abdullah said. Protesters warned that if the government fails to secure the people, there will not an option for the people except to act against the terrorists. Video report at the link Lack Of Orders Slowed Down Hostage Operation Afghan security forces struggling against Taliban in Ali Abad district of Kunduz have said that despite the information they received about the abduction of 200 passengers by the Taliban, they were not allowed to conduct an attack on the Taliban militants. The commander of Afghan public protection force in Amarkhail village of Ali Abad district where the Taliban kidnapped the passengers told TOLOnews correspondent Sharif Amiry on Thursday that the war order was issued when the Taliban had transferred the hostages to a secret location. On Thursday, the Afghan forces launched their operation against the Taliban in Amarkhail village. Two incidents of mass kidnappings have taken place since Tuesday. In the first incident, armed Taliban fighters stopped a number of busses on the Kunduz-Baghlan highway in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Insurgents executed 10 men from a group of nearly 200 men, women and children. The bulk of the hostages were freed but ten remained. Insurgents subsequently beheaded two of the eight. In the second incident, insurgents abducted 17 bus passengers in Sar-e-Pul province on Wednesday. Meanwhile a local Afghan National Police (ANP) officer has said that the Kunduz security forces were informed by the local people at around 4:00am of the kidnapping. "Local people informed us about 4:00 am, when we got in touch with our commanders, they reached the area after one hour, but the Taliban had taken all passengers already," he said. |
| Posted by:badanov |