‘Daesh atrocities growing in Jawzjan’s Darzab district’

SHIBERGHAN (Pajhwok): Some residents of Darzab district in northern Jawzjan province say Daesh or Islamic State affiliates have intensified their atrocities and sexual abuse of girls and women in the district.

One of them, Khadija, not a real name, said a number of gunmen headed by a Daesh commander forced their way into her house, killed her brother in law and took away her sister with them.

“The individuals who stormed our house belong to Mufti Niamat and they sexually assaulted my sister for ten months and invited other Daesh men to have sex with her.”

The woman said her sister was able to escape from the clutches of her captors despite being injured in the stomach and leg.

“She is currently in a bad condition. I don’t know to whom I should explain the pain we had been though,” she added.

Dilbarkhal, another woman, said Daesh insurgents forced their way into her house, killed her husband and sexually assaulted her newly-wed daughter. The attack was carried out by Daesh rebels headed by Qari Ibrahim. She said Daesh insurgents killed her daughter and husband together.

Rahmatullah Hashar, a former district chief of Darzab, also acknowledged to Pajhwok the ongoing atrocities being committed by Daesh against people and added sexually attacks and torture had become a routine practice.

Mohammad Ashraf, a former Daesh insurgent who reconciled and joined the peace process, said: “In the past, I had been thinking Daesh was an Islamic force and it worked for the revival and reformation of society but after spending one year with them, I realized they know nothing about Islam and humanity.” He said: “Once I witnessed two Daesh rebels sexually attacking a woman.”

The Darzab district gas been under Daesh control over the past two years. Most the district dwellers have migrated to Shiberghan, the provincial capital.

nh/ma