Taliban gunmen have killed 40 and arrested more than 100 people accused of being members of the National Resistant Front (NRF) in Panjshir province, a Taliban spokesman said on Tuesday.
“In Rukhah, Dara and Afshar districts of Panjshir province, a clearing operation was carried out against rebels, killing 40 including three commanders (Fahim Commando, Javad and Mohammad Yar), and 101 people were arrested with their weapons,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman tweeted in Dari. “They wanted to disturb the security of the people, but they were stopped.”
One video shared by Afghan journalists appears to show a summary execution of people in Panjshir province. In the video, Taliban gunmen are shooting at several people who appear to be sitting down with their hands appearing to be tied behind their backs.
Sibghatullah Ahmadi, a spokesman for NRF, accused the Taliban of war crimes. In a tweet, he said that the Taliban have killed eight NFR members after they were captured. He also claimed that NFR has killed more than 60 Taliban members on Saturday and Sunday.
It was in mid-August that clashes between the Taliban and NRF intensified in Panjshir province, where residents have accused the Taliban of mass arrests, hostage-taking, torture, and the forced displacement of civilians from their villages.
In one incident, Zan Times has reported that the Taliban took 50 men and children hostage from the Abdullah Khel village of the province’s Dara district.
The Taliban have previously been accused of summary executions and kidnappings of many members of the security forces of the previous government.
