The Taliban have killed 42 civilians and wounded 105 others over past week across 18 provinces of Afghanistan, according to the Office of the National Security Council (ONSC).
“Taliban has failed to deliver on promises of reducing violence against the Afghan people and working for peace,” the ONSC spokesperson, Javid Faisal, said in a tweet posted today, June 21. In a statement released by the ONSC a week earlier, the ONSC accused the militant group of violating the three-day truce during Eid al-Fitr.
This comes as 22 people, mostly pro-government forces, were killed and 20 others were wounded in violence recently erupted between Afghan security forces and the Taliban in different provinces, as per the accounts of local officials talking to Kabul Now.
In a most brutal one, the Taliban militants have beaten a religious scholar to death in the northern Baghlan province for offering funeral prayer of a slain local police commander in the province. Jawid Besharat, spokesperson for Baghlan police chief, identified the victim as Sheikh Hussain from Kohna Masjid village of Dand-e-Ghori area of Baghlan province. Moreover, spokesperson for Baghlan governor, Nazir Najm, confirmed that three Afghan police forces were killed and 11 others were injured in a Taliban attack on Nahrain district of the province. He added that the attack lasted for six hours overnight and that six Taliban militants were killed. Besharat, however, said that eight Taliban militants were killed and seven others were wounded in counter attacks by police forces.
The northern Takhar province witnessed the deadliest Taliban attack in which 10 members of the People Uprising Force, a pro-government militia, were killed and two others wounded. According to Khalil Asir, spokesperson for the province police department, the incident took place last night, June 20, in Chahe Ab district of Takhar province.
He added that the Taliban militants had also launched attacks on outposts of Afghan security forces in Namak Ab district of the province. Though the local official did not provide a specific tally, he confirmed that the two sides suffered casualties in the later incident.
