News / Afghanistan

13 civilians killed by mortars in Afghanistan’s Faryab province: Report

Saturday, 12 August 2017 1:14 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 12 August 2017 1:16 PM ]

Taliban militants stand with their weapons in Ahmad Aba district on the outskirts of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, Afghanistan, July 18, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

At least 13 people, including women and children, have been killed when a pair of mortar blasts ripped through their house in Afghanistan’s northern province of Faryab, a local official says.

The deadly incident occurred in Dawolat Abad district on Friday evening, said General Dilawer Shah Dilawer, the Faryab provincial police chief, on Saturday, adding that the blasts also inflicted injuries to at least three other civilians.

However, he said that at the time it was not clear whether the Taliban militant group, which is active in the region, was behind the shelling. The terror outfit has not commented yet on the incident.

Dilawer further said a security team had been dispatched to the site to probe the deadly attack.

In the past few months, the restive Faryab province has witnessed a fresh wave of violence as the government troops are trying to contain the Taliban insurgency in the region.

On Sunday, some 60 people, including women and children, were massacred during an attack on Mirza Olang Village in the northern province of Sar-e Pol. A number of Afghan security forces were also among the dead. Reports say the carnage was carried out by Taliban forces and those of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

Afghanistan is still suffering from insecurity and violence years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in 2001. The military invasion removed the Taliban from power, but militancy continues to this day.

Furthermore, every so often, US air raids also kill both Afghan soldiers and civilians across the country. On Friday, at least 16 civilians were killed when the US-led coalition carried out an air raid in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. In June, at least three Afghan border police officers were killed in US airstrikes in Helmand province. Back in February, American airstrikes also killed 22 civilians in the same province.

The war in Afghanistan is the longest in US history with a cost of about $1 trillion. More than 2,400 Americans have died and another 20,000 have been wounded in the country since the beginning of the invasion. The United States currently has about 8,400 soldiers in Afghanistan with another 5,000 troops from NATO allies.

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