By Tamana Taban
Hawagul is still in shock. Ten days ago, her husband was massacred alongside more than a dozen other men by a group of armed men while travelling from their remote village of Qariodal on the border of Daikundi province.
A chilling video of the massacre showed the armed men forced the Qaridol locals to line up before they were shot on the evening of Thursday, September 12.
Hawagul’s husband, the sole breadwinner in her family, was among at least 14 men killed and six injured.
“Since the evening of the day the incident happened, the entire village looks like a graveyard to me. I don’t understand where I am or what I’m doing,” the 43-year-old mother said.
“We are bewildered, turning to God, wondering what to do and where to go.
“Those cruel, heartless men shot dead my husband and 13 other young men from our village without mercy, and I don’t know what crime they committed.”
Hawagul said her 44-year-old husband was a farmer who worked on their land, and none of her children are old enough to take on this work in the fields.
“He worked from dawn to dusk to ensure we didn’t go to sleep hungry. Now that he’s gone, what will we do? What will become of us?”
In the small village, everyone has been touched by the massacre.
“On that Thursday evening, when the people brought the bodies of the victims back to the village, there was not a single home where cries, wails, and mourning could not be heard. The village became a place of mourning,” Hawagul said.
Local sources said around 40 families live in Qaridol primarily working on farms. It’s the last residential area of the Hazaras within the boundaries of the Sang Takht-e-Bandar district in Daikundi province. The nearest neighboring village is Pahlusang in Ghor province.
ISIS boasts of attack with video
An Islamic State affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan (ISKP), took responsibility for the killings, publishing the video of the shooting on the group’s Amaq website.
Those who survived the attack said that four armed men on motorcycles opened fire as residents from Qariodal passed through Kham Safid pass and entered Ghor province. Of the four men, one of them was reportedly taking the video, while the other three carried out the massacre.
Local sources reported the attackers spoke Persian and initially introduced themselves as Taliban soldiers.
Qaridol resident Samad, 34, recounted what one of the injured men allegedly told him.
“[The attackers] said, We are Taliban members and are waiting for some important guests coming from the district center who are unfamiliar with the area,” Samad said.
“They wanted to gather people together under the pretence of taking a memorial photo, but when one the victims became suspicious of them, one of the attackers, who was filming, handed his phone to another individual, and the three of them started shooting while one still took photos.”
Samad said the wounded survivor allegedly heard the men repeatedly say while shooting “Kill the idolaters and infidels”. After the shooting, the attackers allegedly went back over the slumped bodies and shot everyone in the head.
“During the burial, we found out that each person had been shot more than four or five times, and most of them had been shot in the chest, heart, and back of the head,” Samad said.
Shia pilgrims’ family wiped out
Samad said that at least eight of the victims were close relatives of a Qaridol man Chaman who was returning with his wife after visiting Karbala, a holy site for Shia Muslims in Iraq.
Around 18 men from the village went as the welcoming party, but they were attacked in Kham Safid area before they reached the pilgrims.
“Two of his sons, two nephews, a cousin from his maternal uncle, a cousin from his paternal uncle, his brother’s son-in-law, and his brother’s son-in-law’s father,” Samad said.
An unverified witness posted on Facebook under the username Rahimi about what he saw that day.
“When I returned from Palosang, a nearby village, it was evening. As I descended from Kham Safid pass towards Qariodal, I felt as if a calamity had occurred. From all the poor homes in the village, the cries and wails of women and children were echoing,” Rahimi wrote.
“I came to the prayer area where 13 bodies were laid side by side. It was a surreal scene. I saw no one else, only three elderly men who were there, confused about what to do. Sometimes they went into the mosque, and sometimes they stepped outside to look at the bodies of the deceased.”
Condemnation without action
This massacre has sparked further concern among the Hazara tribe that they are being targeted for their ethnicity and faith as Shia Muslims. ISIS is linked to the Sunni branch of Islam and has targeted Shia Muslims for their beliefs.
UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett said on X: “Yesterday’s appalling ISKP-claimed killings of Hazara from Daikundi traveling in Ghor bears hallmarks of int’l crimes. My thoughts are with victims & families. I’m alarmed about the spate of ISKP-claimed attacks. Need for prevention, protection & (int’l) accountability Afghanistan”.
Human Rights Watch has renewed its call for more protection for the Hazara community in Afghanistan.
The organization noted that since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Khorasan branch of ISIS has claimed responsibility for at least 17 attacks against Hazaras. These attacks have resulted in over 700 deaths and injuries.
The United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan has called for “an investigation to hold those accountable”.
For Hawagul, she has called on the Taliban to take action.
“Don’t the Taliban always shout about security and justice? Then why are they doing nothing now? Why aren’t they acting, unless they are either powerless or colluding with the killers,” Hawagul said.
“We want justice. We want the murderers of our youth to be punished.”
