The Taliban militants have abducted as many as six civilians, who are all residents of Jaghori, in Qarabagh district of the southern Ghazni province, a local official confirmed.
The civilians were abducted yesterday, Sunday, December 27, in Dasht area of Qarabagh district, said Arif Bahunar, district governor of Jaghori. He added that four of the civilians were kidnapped while heading from Jaghori to Ghazni’s capital city, and two of them were abducted while they were en route to Jaghori from Kabul.
According to the local official, those who have been abducted are civilians. They were taken as hostages by the militants who are under the command of Mawlawi Ayoub, the Taliban’s shadow governor for Qarabagh district.
He further said that militants lead by Taliban’s shadow governor for Jaghori, Muqim, had taken eight Jaghori residents as hostages for several hours in Zard Alo area of Qarabagh district but later they were released and joined their families.
Jaghori district governor underlined that the Taliban militants have control on most parts of road connecting Jaghori to Ghazni city and often extort people on their ways back and forth to Jaghori. According to him, it has negatively impacted the value of basic materials increasing prices by almost twofold in Jaghori and Malistan districts.
The Taliban, however, have not commented regarding the hostage taking so far.
The southern Ghazni is an insecure province where the Taliban militants control swaths of territory.
In a separate incident, unknown armed men have assassinated two government employees, who were working at the Finance Department of Ghazni province, earlier this morning, around 08:00 AM, in Ghazni city. Ahmad Khan Seerat, spokesperson for Ghazni police chief, told Kabul Now, that the unknown gunmen shot dead the two government employees while they were on their way to their office.
He noted that investigation is underway to probe the case and identify the perpetrators.
Confirming the incident, the Ministry of Finance identified the victims as Enayatullah and Shafiqullah.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
