Connect with us

Latest News

Unidentified Gunmen 12 Minority Hazaras In Ghazni

Published

on

(Last Updated On: October 25, 2022)

gunman_

Unknown gunmen kidnapped 12 ethnic minority Hazaras from a car in east Afghanistan, days after suspected Taliban fighters kidnapped and killed four Hazaras in the same province, according to Reuters.

Tuesday’s kidnappings in the province of Ghazni follow a spate of suicide bombings in Kabul last week and add to fears of an increase in sectarian violence as the Taliban’s anti-government insurgency gathers pace.

The passengers were travelling to Ghazni city when the gunmen stopped their car in Jaghuri, officials said.

“We are currently in contact with local elders. They will speak with the kidnappers to free our Hazara people,” Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, a deputy governor of Ghazni said.

Hazaras, an ethnic group belonging mainly to the Shi’ite branch of Islam, were persecuted under the Taliban’s hardline Sunni Islamist rule, although sectarian violence has been rare since the end of the Taliban rule in 2001.

On Sunday, suspected Taliban fighters, seeking to re-establish their hard-line Islamist regime after it was toppled by U.S.-led military intervention in 2001, kidnapped four Hazaras while they were travelling from the Jaghori district to Ghazni.

“The Taliban kidnapped them from a car in a same way and later security forces found their bodies,” Ahmadi said.

In February, masked gunmen kidnapped 30 Hazaras in the southern province of Zabul. Nineteen were freed in May, two were killed and nine are still missing.

Almost 5,000 civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of the year, according to U.N. figures

In the meantime, The bodies of four men abducted last week in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Ghazni have been found, Press TV reported.

According to the officials, the men kidnapped by militants had all been shot dead.

The bodies were spotted in the Nawur district bordering Pakistan, said deputy police chief of Ghazni province Asadullah Ensaf on Wednesday.

He added that three of the men were members of the Hazara Shia community while the other was a Sunni Pashtun.

The Ghazni governor’s spokesman Shafiq Nang said that the men were engineers, adding that they had been kidnapped by militants last Thursday.

He, however, did not provide more details about the victims.

Meanwhile, a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the engineers were working in the government’s construction projects.

The Hazara Shia community has been targeted by the Taliban and other militants in Afghanistan.

In February, masked gunmen kidnapped 30 Hazara men in Zabul province, located in south of Ghazni.

The men were travelling by bus from Iran when they were seized. The gunmen took their money and phones before leaving them.

In April, four Hazara farmers were also kidnapped in Ghazni province as they were buying livestock in the local market. They were beheaded by the gunmen after local authorities rejected the kidnappers’ demands to release comrades of the militants who were held by the government.

Last month, 11 Hazaras were also kidnapped in the northern province of Baghlan. The abductees were released later.

Hazaras currently make up nine percent of Afghanistan’s estimated 31-million-strong population.

 

 

 

Advertisement

Latest News

Kabul police summons Afghan YouTuber Hamayon

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

Afghanistan’s YouTuber Hamayon Afghan was summoned to the police station for publishing a woman’s interview without her permission, Kabul police said.

The spokesman of Kabul Police Khalid Zadran said Friday on X that Hamayon interviewed an old woman and published the report without her permission.

“After the interview, the interviewee’s family complained to the police and the police summoned Hamayon Afghan to the police station,” said Zadran.

Zadran stated that police are working to solve the problem with the two sides’ agreement as soon as possible.

He urges people to avoid posting rumors on the issue.

Continue Reading

Latest News

Contract worth $53 million signed for construction of last section of Khaf–Herat railway

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

A contract worth $53 million was signed Thursday for the construction of the last section of Khaf-Herat railway that connects Afghanistan with Iran.

The contract was signed between Afghanistan Railway Authority and Gamma Group in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, his office said in a statement.

The segment is 47-kilometer long, stretching from Rabat Parian to Herat International Airport and the Industrial Town, according to the statement.

It added that completion and standard operational readiness are expected within approximately two years.

“Upon its completion, this segment will integrate the Khaf-Herat regional connectivity project with Iran’s significant seaports and facilitate access to Europe via the Turkish railway network,” the statement said.

“Furthermore, traversing Afghan territory, it will bolster commercial exchanges between Central and South Asia. Notably, this project’s realization will enable the expansion of railway networks into Farah, Nimruz, Helmand, and Kandahar provinces,” it added.

Gamma operates across Europe and Asia in multiple sectors including construction, renewable energy, power transmission, mining, railways among others.

Continue Reading

Latest News

US urges IEA to fulfill counter-terrorism commitments

Published

on

(Last Updated On: March 29, 2024)

The US State Department said on Thursday that Washington is committed to ensuring that Afghanistan can never again be a launching pad for terrorism.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan can never again be a launching pad for terrorism, and we continue to push the Taliban (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) to fulfill all of their counterterrorism commitments to the international community,” the department’s spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a news briefing in Washington.

He reiterated that the United States had clearly communicated to the IEA that it’s their responsibility to ensure that “they give no safe haven to terrorists, whether it be Al Qaeda or ISIS-K or any other terrorist organization”.

Miller also reassured US allies that Washington was closely watching the developments in Afghanistan and was ready to deal with any threat emerging from the region.

“We remain vigilant against the evolving threat of these terrorist groups, and our global coalition to defeat ISIS and the C5+1 help intensify our efforts to monitor terrorist threats from the region and prevent their ability to raise funds, travel, and spread propaganda,” he said.

C5+1 refers to a diplomatic platform involving the five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgy­zstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and the United States. It serves as a forum for discussing and addressing regional issues such as security, economic development, and cooperation.

“The United States remains vigilant against the evolving threat posed by terrorist groups, including ISIS-K, and has maintained an unwavering focus on terrorism since President Joe Biden took office three years ago,” Miller said.

The US, he said, was “working both unilaterally and with its partners to successfully disrupt threats across the globe and degrade ISIS”.

“We will continue to work to hold ISIS accountable for its actions and to prevent terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western countries,” Miller said.

This comes as IEA has repeatedly said that it is committed to not allowing anyone to use Afghanistan soil against any other country.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2022 Ariana News. All rights reserved!