KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources in northern Sar-e-Pol province reported that a former commander of the anti-Taliban People’s Uprising Force during the previous government was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in the province.
Speaking with KabulNow today, the sources identified the former commander as Gul Ahmad Muradi, who was killed in his home in the Balkhab district on Thursday night, October 31.
According to sources, the commander had around 100 armed forces under his command fighting the Taliban during the republic government. However, following the Taliban takeover, he surrendered his military equipment to the Taliban and had been living a normal life in the province.
The motive for his murder remains unclear, and the perpetrators have not yet been identified.
The Taliban local authorities in Sar-e-Pol have not yet commented on the incidents.
Earlier, two other cases of mysterious killings were reported in Afghanistan. One incident occurred in northern Takhar province, where unidentified armed individuals shot and killed a religious cleric named Mawlawi Zakaria Mashtani in the capital city of Taleqan on Friday, according to local sources.
Another incident occurred in eastern Nangarhar province on Friday night, where a cleric was killed by unknown individuals in the Khogyani district, according to local Taliban authorities.
All of these incidents remain uninvestigated, and the perpetrators have yet to be identified.
These incidents add to a surge in mysterious killings and criminal activities across Afghanistan in recent years. The country’s citizens are increasingly worried about their safety and security, which exacerbates the mounting challenges they face since the Taliban’s takeover.
In its report released in August, Rawadari, a London-based human rights organization, documented at least 239 cases of mysterious, extrajudicial, and targeted killings, including those of women and children, throughout Afghanistan over a six-month period.
The report indicates that the victims primarily include former government officials, their family members, human rights advocates, tribal elders, and opponents of the Taliban regime.
The rights group also stressed that the actual number could be significantly higher, as it was unable to document all cases due to the Taliban creating an atmosphere of fear and pressuring victims’ families to keep such information concealed.
