Gunmen kill 13 civilians in east Afghanistan

More than a dozen civilians, among them a woman, have been killed when a group of unknown armed men launched an attack on buses traveling toward the troubled eastern region of Afghanistan.

Ataullah Khogyani, the spokesman for Maidan Wardak provincial governor, said on Tuesday that the assailants fired shots at the buses at around 1:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday (2030 GMT Monday) in Saydabad district of the province, killing 13 passengers. Two people also sustained grave injuries in the attack.

The buses were heading from the capital, Kabul, towards Afghanistan’s eastern province of Ghazni.

 
Mohammad Ali, the deputy governor of neighboring Ghazni province, confirmed the incident, saying the gunmen picked their victims and shot them one by one.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but such assaults bear the hallmarks of those made by Taliban militants. Afghan authorities have launched an investigation to determine the motive behind the act of violence.

Speaking from Kabul, Press TV correspondent, Fayez Khorshid said the victims were returning home in Ghazni after celebrating Nowruz, which marks the Persian New Year, in the Afghan capital.

He added that their next of kin are demanding justice over the deadly attack.

Analysts believe that US-led NATO military forces have failed to fully accomplish their mission in Afghanistan, and establish calm and security in the violence-hit Asian country, Khorshid said.

On March 17, armed men abducted six Shia Muslims from the Hazara ethnic community on a highway linking Afghanistan’s western province of Farah to neighboring Herat Province. 

Last month, masked gunmen kidnapped 30 Shia Muslims as they were traveling on two buses. The incident took place in the southern province of Zabul on the road between the western city of Herat and Kabul.

The kidnapped individuals were men from the Hazara ethnic group, which is often targeted by militants in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.

Fears have recently been growing over the influence of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group in Afghanistan, which has witnessed years of instability despite the presence of foreign troops.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed Taliban from power, but insecurity still remains in some provinces.

The US-led combat mission in Afghanistan ended on December 31, 2014. However, at least 13,500 foreign forces, mainly from the United States, have remained in the country in what Washington calls a support mission.

NATO says the forces will focus mainly on counterterrorism operations and training Afghan soldiers and policemen.

MP/NN/HMV

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