Ayaz Gul VOA News January 4, 2021 ISLAMABAD – The United States has directly accused the Taliban of being behind a recent wave of high-profile assassinations in Afghanistan, urging the insurgent group to stop the violence “for peace to succeed.” Monday’s charges came hours after the Taliban accused U.S. forces of launching airstrikes against insurgent-held
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News December 30, 2020 ISLAMABAD – An Afghan air force pilot was gunned down Wednesday in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. Police confirmed to VOA the killing of a member of the military but did not share any other details. A security source, who did not want to be named, said
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 29, 2020 Reporters without Borders (RSF) says 50 people were killed this year in connection with their journalistic work, with Afghanistan and Pakistan being among the most dangerous countries for media professionals. The vast majority of those killed globally were deliberately murdered because they researched topics such as corruption, organized
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 24, 2020 Prominent Afghan women’s rights activist Freshta Kohistani has been assassinated in a village in the Kapisa Province northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said on December 24. The killing of Kohistani was the latest in a string of targeted killings that have prompted international concern. “At around 5:00pm
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 23, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Officials in Afghanistan say gunmen Wednesday killed the head of an independent elections watchdog in Kabul, the latest casualty in a string of mostly unclaimed recent attacks against prominent civilians. The violence has claimed the lives of dozens of people, particularly in the Afghan capital. The
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 13, 2020 A surge of targeted killings and assassinations has swept Afghanistan, where violence has soared despite peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Many of those being targeted are civilians — journalists, rights activists, cultural figures, moderate religious leaders, and women in public roles. The latest victim
Ariana: Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) announced Saturday it had arrested 10 members of a cell behind the recent assassination attempt on First Vice President Amrullah Saleh. The NDS said the cell was affiliated to both Haqqani network and to ISIS. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: A 15-member Taliban team that the National Directorate of Security claims was formed to carry out assassinations has revealed during an investigation that they received training in Pakistan, the NDS said. Members of the group, who were captured by Afghan intelligence agency two days ago, confessed in the initial rounds of interrogation that
Ariana: The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed deep concern over increasingly frequent targeted civilian killings across the country. In a statement released Sunday, the AIHRC said their findings showed that in the first six months of this year, 533 people had been killed and 412 wounded in systematic and targeted assassinations. Click
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 19, 2020 Afghan officials say the deputy head of the provincial council in the southeastern province of Paktia has been assassinated by unknown gunmen. The provincial media office said Ayub Gharwal was on his way to a university in the provincial capital of Gardez when he was attacked and killed