Sunday, 10 July – According to local officials, at least four de-miner hostages have been killed by armed militants in Farah province.
Syed Mohammad Roshandil, police chief of Farah province said, “Dead bodies of at least four deminers were found by police forces on Saturday, after their abduction.”
The body of a de-miner who was the team leader of the de-miners group has been handed over to his family while the bodies of the other three de-miners will be sent to their families and relatives later Sunday.
In the meantime, Farah provincial deputy police chief Mohammad Ghaws Malyar said, Seven of the deminers have been beheaded. We have recovered the body of one of them and the rest of the bodies are with tribal elders.
At least 28 people including 24 de-miners and four drivers were taken hostages by armed militants in Balablok district of Farah province on July 6.
All the hostages who were kidnapped by armed militants were employees of a mine clearing agency (– Demining Agency for Afghanistan “DAFA”).
Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA) is an Afghan charity body based in the southern province of Kandahar.
Details on the fate of 24 other hostages who are still in custody of insurgents, are unknown yet and police officials also did not provide further details.
No group including the Taliban militants have claimed the responsibility for the incident so far.
The wave of insurgency has been rampant since Taliban militants announced their spring offensive against Afghan and NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan.
