Local sources in the northern Faryab province claimed that the Taliban forces have opened fire on a car, killing one young man and wounding another, after the driver failed to stop the vehicle upon the request of the Taliban’s forces. The Taliban, however, blamed unknown gunmen for the incident.
The incident took place on Monday around 01:00 AM local time in Pashtunkot district of the province.
A source, who blamed the Taliban for the deadly incident, added that the vehicle had three riders who were all young men from Baluch Khana neighbourhood of Maymana, capital of Faryab. One of the men named Mawladad was killed, another one was injured, and the third one was missing, the source detailed.
Denying the allegation, the Taliban said that the young men were targeted by unknown armed men.
Habibullah Butshekan, spokesman for the Taliban’s police in Faryab, said the group has already started investigating the incident and no one has been arrested in connection to it.
This is not the first time that the Taliban forces are accused of arbitrarily shooting and killing people passing their check points. The group’s forces have committed such deadly and arbitrarily shootings even in the capital Kabul.
In January 2022, Taliban forces assigned a checkpoint in Western Kabul opened fire on a car after checking the vehicle and letting it pass, killing a young Hazara woman. Later, the group’s spokespersons admitted that a Taliban fighter had shot dead the woman by mistake.