BAMYAN: Amid contradictory claims, a young girl was found dead in her sister’s house in central Bamyan province, police said on Saturday.
The 16-year-old, identified as Shakila, was found shot dead in the Zargaran village on the outskirts of Bamyan City, the deputy police chief said.
Col. Ghulam Sakhi Nekpai told Pajhwok Afghan News the girl from Kabul was found dead at the house of her brother-in-law, a bodyguard with a provincial council member.
But the victim’s family said Shakila was playing with a Kalashnikov that went off accidently, killing her at a time when there was one else in the house.
Provincial council member, Wahidi Behishti, and his guard Qurban lived in the same house, police said. An investigation has been launched into the incident.
An official at the crime investigation branch, wishing anonymity, said the girl had been shot dead. Initial investigations show the bullet was fired from a long distance.
A provincial council member, Haji Haidar Ali Ahmadi, also accused the brother-in-law of killing the girl.
Acting provincial civil hospital director, Anwar Sina, said the girl had bullet injuries in her chest. He said they lacked a forensic lab.
–Hadi Ghafari
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GHAZNI: An unmanned spy plane of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has crashed in the southern province of Ghazni, officials said on Saturday.
The unmanned aerial vehicle went down due to a technical fault in Deh Yak district on Friday evening, the governor’s spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.
NATO-led troops shifted the aircraft’s wreckage from the area, Mudassir Afghan said, giving no further details of the incident.
The lightweight plane fell in the Balai village, said a member of provincial council, Syed Sher Agha.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed they shot down the spy plane which was flying over the Balai village of the district.
However, the ISAF media office rejected the claim as baseless, saying they had launched an investigation into the case.
Separately, three insurgents were killed by their own bomb in the neighbouring Zana khan district. The explosion took place Friday evening when the militants were planting theroadside bomb on Zana khan-Ghazni City road, said the police chief, Brig. Gen. Zarawar Zahid.
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JAWZJAN: A former jihadi commander was shot dead on the charge of killing a local police official in the Darz Aab district of northern Jawzjan province, an official said on Saturday.
Madi was shot dead by Faizullah, a brother of the local police commander Khaldar, police chief, Brig. Gen. Abdul Aziz Ghairat, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
Faizullah had confessed to his crime during preliminary investigations, he said. An investigation of the jihadi commander’s involvement in the murder was still ongoing, he added.
Faizullah said: “I have killed Madi in revenge for my brother’s murder.”
–Hamid
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KABUL: An International Security and Assistance Forces(ISAF) soldier was killed in southern Afghanistan, the alliance said on Saturday.
The servicemember died following an insurgent attack on Friday, the NATO-led force said in a brief statement.
In line with its policy, ISAF neither disclosed the exact location of the incident nor the nationality of the fallen servicemember.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence in London announced that a British soldier was killed as a result of a militant attack in the southern province of Helmand.
“The soldier was serving as a part of Combined Force in the Nahr-i-Siraj district and was a member of ISAF foot patrol to disrupt insurgent activity when he received a fatal gunshot wound,” the ministry said.
With the latest fatality, the death toll for foreign forces in Afghanistan this year has increased to 33, including three UK servicemembers. Last year, 566 international soldiers were killed in the country.
Britain has 9,500 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, the second highest contributing force after the US, and has lost 397 servicemen and women since the start of the war in late 2001.
—Pajhwok Report
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KABUL: Seven militants were killed and 28 others arrested during a string of joint security operations in different provinces over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Saturday.
The operations invovling Afghan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops were carried out in Laghman, Helmand, Nimroz, Maidan Wardak, Khost and Herat provinces.
Three Kalashnikovs, one pistol, 5 jerry-cans of explosives, one BM-1 shell, and a mine were seized during the operations, the ministry said in a statement.
In southern Ghazni province, it added, two militants were killed when the explosives they were planting went off prematurely in the Kochi village of Zana Khan district.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said 17 landmines were defused by Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers in the Zurmat district of Paktia, Bala Baluk district of Farah and Panjwai district of Kandahar.
It said 50 sacks of hashish seeds and another 45 bags of raw hashish were seized in Zherai and Nad Ali districts of Kandahar and Helmand.
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KANDAHAR: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a police officer in the capital of southern Kandahar province on Saturday, an official said.
Daulat Khan, serving at the Dand district police headquarters, was attacked while travelling in a car to Kandahar City at round 2pm in the second police district.
The governor’s spokesman, Zalmai Ayubi, told Pajhwok Afghan News the attackers escaped, but police had launched an investigation. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the murder.
–Bashir Ahmad Nadim
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KUNAR: The Taliban insurgents on Saturday released all the 15 policemen in their captivity in the Manogai district of eastern Kunar province, officials said.
Mohammad Yousuf Nuristani, the governor’s secretary, said earlier in the day that 18 policemen, residents of Nuristan province, were abducted by the rebels in the Lechlam area late on Friday.
But the Kunar police chief, Brig. Gen. Hewaz Muhammad Naziri, put the number of abducted policemen at 15. The kidnappers freed the policemen after snatching four-month salaries from them, he said, without giving a specific figure.
Nuristani complained the Taliban held a substantial sway in the area, where residents lived in constant fear. He said the Taliban moved freely and repeated calls for launching military operations against the insurgents fell on deaf ears.
If the government did not take appropriate steps to clear Lechlam and Goslak areas of the insurgents, Nuristan security personnel would launch operations on their own, he warned.
But Brig. Gen. Naziri said the Kunar-Nuristan highway passed through mountainous areas and they were unable to construct more check-posts along the road.
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SAR-I-PUL: A taxi driver was killed after being kidnapped by armed robbers in the Gosfandi district of northern Sar-i-Pul province, an official said on Saturday.
The driver, who had been kidnapped from Mazar-i-Sharif, was found dead in the Sadmesh desert of the district, police chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Yaqub Zabuli, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said two suspects had been detained in connection with the kidnap-slaying incident. The driver’s body has been handed over to his family.
Khudai Birdi, the victim’s uncle, said: “My nephew, Faizullah, 22, was kidnapped from a parking lot by armed robbers in Mazar-i-Sharif two days ago.”
He added the robbers wanted to hijack Faizullah’s vehicle. He asked security officials to award severe punishment to the culprits.
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