KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – At least three people, including a young girl, have been killed in three separate incidents in Afghanistan’s Paktika and Nangarhar provinces, local sources said, amid continued reports of mysterious killings and violent crimes across the country.
In Paktika province, the mutilated body of a man believed to be around 40 years old was discovered in a remote, deserted area of Sar Rawza district on Friday, October 16, according to a local source. The source said the man’s hands and nose had been severed. His identity and the circumstances surrounding his killing remain unknown.
In a separate incident in Paktika’s Wazikhwa district, a young girl was killed during a dispute between two families in Chitri village on Friday, another local source said. According to the source, one side opened fire on the other family’s house during the confrontation, killing the child. Further details about the dispute were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, in Nangarhar province, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a young man, Nisar Ahmad Stoman, in Surkh Rod district on Friday, local sources said.
According to a source, Stoman had appeared as a guest on a programme broadcast by the privately owned Dost Radio in Nangarhar earlier that day. He was shot dead by unidentified armed men after returning home from the radio station.
The source said Stoman was originally from Surkh Rod district and had completed a bachelor’s degree in law and political science. The motive for his killing remains unclear.
As of Saturday, local Taliban authorities in both Paktika and Nangarhar had not issued official statements about the incidents.
Similar incidents have been reported in other Afghan provinces. On October 11, a man was stabbed and beheaded by unidentified individuals near Jami Ettefaq Mosque in the second district of Kandahar city. In a separate incident, a young man named Ismail was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while visiting a friend’s house in Fatah Abad village in Nangarhar’s Surkh Rod district. The motives for both killings remain unclear, and the attackers’ identities are unknown.
The killings add to ongoing reports of unexplained murders in Afghanistan, including cases in Kabul province in which victims have been killed under unclear circumstances and perpetrators described as unidentified armed men. Despite Taliban authorities’ repeated claims that nationwide security has improved since their return to power in August 2021, reports of criminal violence and mysterious killings continue to emerge from different provinces.
According to Rawadari, an Afghan human rights organization, at least 251 people were killed or injured in targeted, mysterious and extrajudicial killings involving the Taliban and unidentified individuals during the first six months of 2025. The victims included former government employees, people accused of links to anti-Taliban groups, protesters and local influential figures.
The organization has also highlighted difficulties in documenting such cases because of restrictions on information and fears among victims’ families and witnesses.
