4 tribal elders killed in Faryab ambush

MAIMANA (PAN): Gunmen ambushed a group of tribal elders in northern Faryab province, killing four of them and injuring three others, officials said on Thursday.

The gun attack took place on Wednesday evening in the Qaisar district, apparently part of a four-month-old dispute over a grazing land between two tribes in the Taliban controlled area, police chief Maj. Gen. Nabi Jan Mullakhel told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The dispute is between Noorzai and Shamolzai tribes over a pasture near the border with Tajikistan.

A woman and a child from Noorzai tribe and four men from Shamolzai tribe had already been killed in a previous clash.

The Noorzai tribe supports the government while Shamolzai is pro-insurgents. A month back, Noorzai elders went to Pakistan, where they asked the Taliban to punish the killers of the woman and the child.

The police chief believed the Norozai elders might have been carrying a decree of the Taliban leadership from Pakistan to their local commanders when they came under attack on their way back.

He suspected the involvement of Shamolzai tribesmen in the ambush.

Provincial council member Syed Abdul Baqi confirmed the attack and the casualties that occurred in the Khwaja Kinti area.

myn/ma

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