KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Armed Kuchi (nomads) attacked residents of a village in Bamyan province, a Hazara-populated area in central Afghanistan, on Tuesday, severely beating and injuring at least three local farmers, local sources said.
The incident occurred in Tobak village, in the Pashta Gharghari area of Panjab district, when villagers tried to stop the nomads’ livestock from grazing on their farmland. According to sources, the armed men opened fire and beat the farmers “to the point of death.”
The injured were identified as Mohammad Hussain, Jafar and Ali Dad, all local farmers. They were transferred to a nearby hospital, with one of them reported to be in critical condition.
Images obtained by KabulNow show visible wounds, injuries, and bruises on the victims’ bodies.
Local Taliban authorities have not commented on the incident.
A similar attack occurred just a week earlier in Zarsang village, also in Panjab district, where five residents were injured. Farmlands and homes in Bamyan’s Panjab district have faced repeated assaults by armed Kuchi nomads in recent years.
Tensions between Hazara communities and migrating Kuchi nomads typically intensify each spring as the nomads move into the central highlands in search of pasture. Locals accuse the Kuchis of damaging crops, seizing grazing land, and harassing villagers. The underlying dispute over land and grazing rights dates back decades.
Residents say the conflict has worsened since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, with the group often accused of siding with the Kuchis in such confrontations. A KabulNow investigation two years ago documented rising violence and extortion linked to Kuchi-local disputes across several provinces, including Maidan Wardak, Bamyan, Daykundi, Takhar, Parwan, and Kabul.
