In the early hours of Thursday, November 24, Taliban fighters stormed a village named Syuk Shibar in Daikundi province, local sources tell Zan Times. By the time the Taliban left, they had killed eight villagers, including three children, and took another seven people with them.
Relatives of the victims and local residents tell Zan Times that the Taliban surrounded the village, located on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Nili, and started their operation the next morning. A resident who spoke to Zan Times on the condition of anonymity, said that more than 200 Taliban gunmen surrounded the homes of one extended family. “The people woke up in the morning, with the sound of heavy and light weapons,” the source says.
Shariati, a relative of the victims, in an interview with Zan Times, says that the victims were his relations, including three cousins as well as three of their children, aged between 10 and 14, and two other relations.
Shariati says the Taliban worked in cooperation with the “Hazara Taliban.” Several sources say that Sadaqat, a local Hazara commander who joined the Taliban, was involved in the village and may have had rivals among the victims of Syuk Shibar. One source thinks he used Taliban forces to eliminate his opponents.
Mohammad Ali Sadaqat denies that he has an official position with the Taliban. Speaking to Zan Times, he also denies involvement in the killings in Syuk Shibar, saying he was “busy repairing the road” near the village at the time of the attack. Sadaqat says that probably the reason for this Taliban attack was that the members of the families had weapons. He adds that the Taliban had previously sent elders asking them to surrender the weaponry to them, which they declined.
When Zan Times tried to contact Sediqullah Abid, the Taliban police commander for Daikundi, to get information about the village attack, his assistant said that he was on a visit to Kandahar and that they will provide information, once they have learned more.
