Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

13 Civilian Passengers Shot Dead on Kabul-Ghazni Highway

13 Civilian Passengers Shot Dead on Kabul-Ghazni Highway

KABUL - At least 13 civilian passengers including a woman have been reportedly shot dead by unknown gunmen Monday night on Kabul-Ghazni highway, local officials told TOLOnews.

Two other civilians were critically injured in the shooting when unknown armed men stopped vehicles of passengers and opened gunfire on them in Haft Asyab area of Sayed Abad district of central Maidan Wardak province, acting governor's spokesman Abdul Majid Khogyani said.

"After the shooting, the security forces arrived in the area and began clashing with the insurgents," Khogyani said. "One of the insurgents was killed while the rest fled the area."

He added that the police have started investigations in this regard.

"Two men came to us and asked our driver that where from did he come? When he replied that from Kandahar, they killed him and moved toward another car," an eyewitness passenger Ataullah told TOLOnews.

But the police chief of Maidan Wardak, Khalil Andrabi, blamed the incident on suspected Daesh militants, saying there were some alleged signs of Daesh in the attackers.

"The shooting that has occurred here are quite same like the brutal killings by Daesh in Iraq and Syria," Andrabi said.

However, no group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the killings so far.

The highway between Kabul and Kandahar, lying on unsafe Zabul, Ghazni and Wardak provinces, have been very unsafe over the p‎ast few weeks since the abduction of 31 civilian passengers by unknown gunmen.

Almost a month has gone since the abduction but the fate of abductees belonging to Hazara ethnic minority is still unknown. (Tolonews)