By: Rukhshana Media
The Taliban forces carried out a raid on residential houses in Sewak Shibar area of central Daikundi province, on Thursday, November 24, killing at least 11 people, including two women and three children, and wounding another six, three local sources say.
A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, tells Rukhshana Media that nearly 250 Taliban forces surrounded Hashim Khan and Gharib Hussainbeg, two tribal elders’ houses on Thursday morning, November 24, who had a land dispute at Sewak Shibar area of Nili district, the capital city of the province.
“The Taliban forces sent Ehsan Khan, Hashim Khan’s son, to Jafari’s house to persuade them to surrender to the Taliban,” the source adds. “The Taliban called him a traitor and carried out a raid on his house after he could not convince Jafari’s family.”
The source says the Taliban arrested him and killed his brother, Ibrahim.
According to the source, the Taliban then attacked Jafari’s house and killed seven members of his family, including a woman and three children between the ages of eleven and fourteen.
Taliban forces went after the rest of Jafari’s family and shot dead whoever belonged to his family, including 14-year-old Mahdi, 11-year-old Mohammad, and 12-year-old Enayat, who were Jafari’s grandsons, according to the source.
The source says that the Taliban brutally killed Sher Ali, Mohammad, and Amir, Jafari’s sons.
Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, says that Shir Ali was killed in a battle with the Taliban.
“The Taliban forces arrested Mohammad and Amir,” the source says. “They shot dead Mohammad soon after but brutally killed Amir, by cutting his body into pieces.”
The source adds Jafari’s daughter-in-law is also among the dead.
According to another source, the Taliban forces killed Aminullah Mali, another tribal elder, who also could not persuade Jafari’s family to surrender.
The source says that three other residents of the village were also killed in the gunfire by the Taliban.
According to the source, six people, including Amir’s wife, and Jafari’s other daughter-in-law are among the wounded.
“Six people, including Ehsan Khan, Rahman Yaqubi, Bashir Haidari, Mahmood Haidari, and Yunus Tawakuli were arrested and transferred to the provincial center Nili,” the source says.
According to the source, the Taliban forces accused Mohammad Dad Jafari and Hashim Khan’s family of establishing an anti-Taliban resistance front in Daikundi.
General Muhammad Ali Sadaqat, who works with the Taliban, is also involved in the land dispute between the Jafari and Hashim Khan families, the source says.
All the victims belong to Hazara ethnic group.
Meanwhile, the Taliban spokesperson confirms the incident and calls the victims “rebels”.
“On November 24, the Islamic Emirate received a report about the presence of armed men in a house in Sewak Shibar area of Daikundi,” the Taliban spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Abdul Nafie Takor, says in a video clip. “Despite the IEA sent them local elders to lay down their weapons, they refused to do so and were killed in an armed clash.”
Mr. Takor denies the killing of children, however, he says that nine armed men were killed and one woman was wounded in the incident.
He adds that one Taliban force was also killed and two others were wounded in the incident.
Three Hazara political figures out of the country, including Mohammad Mohaqiq, Mohammad Karim Khalili, and Sarwar Danish, former vice president, condemned the Taliban’s assault and called for a thorough probe into the incident by international human rights organizations.
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) also condemned the killing of children.
“We call on all parties to fulfill their obligation, under international law, to protect children at all times,” UNICEF says in a tweet. “Every boy and girl in Afghanistan must be allowed to live in peace and in an environment in which they can thrive and fulfill their potential.”
On August 30 last year, the Taliban forces also killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, including a 17-year-old girl in central Daikudni province after they surrendered to the Taliban. Eleven of the victims were former members of Afghan National Defence Security Forces (ANDSF), and two were civilians.
