8am: Sources in Kabul province have confirmed that a mine explosion in Quai Markaz in front of the Kandahar Market targeted a Taliban vehicle today (Wednesday, April 20). According to eyewitnesses, the explosion was due to planted mine, killing two Taliban members. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – April 20, 2022
Ethnic Cleansing: Hazaras in Afghanistan Are on the Verge of Extinction
8am: Hazaras have been the primary target of the proxy war and game being played in the region. They have paid the price of this game with their blood at schools, hospitals, sports clubs, wedding halls, masques, and highways. Click here to read more (external link).
UNICEF confirms death of 20 children in Khost and Kunar airstrikes
Ariana: Mohamed Ag Ayoya, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, on Wednesday said the organization has confirmation that a total 20 children were killed during airstrikes carried out by Pakistan on April 16 in the provinces of Khost and Kunar. “In Khost, twelve girls and three boys were killed, while in Kunar, three girls and two boys were killed,” Ayoya tweeted. Click here to read more (external link).
Taliban Rebels Brutally Torture Teenage Boys in Kabul
8am: A resident in Kabul has reported that the Taliban rebels have brutally tortured his younger brother on the way back from school after he fought with another boy in the area of Safa Township, located in Kotal Khairkhana. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News in Dari – April 19, 2022
Uzbekistan Rejects Claim By Islamic State Affiliate In Afghanistan Over Rocket Assault
By RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service
April 19, 2022
Uzbekistan has rejected claims by a regional affiliate of Islamic State that it carried out a rocket attack on the Central Asian nation from neighboring Afghanistan.
The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) said on April 18 that it had fired 10 rockets at an Uzbek military base in the border town of Termiz, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks terrorist propaganda.
But Uzbek presidential spokesman Sherzod Asadov denied the claim on April 19, calling on Uzbek citizens to disregard what he called “provocations.”
“The information distributed by some Telegram channels about a so-called rocket attack from the territory of Afghanistan at units of Uzbekistan’s armed forces near the town of Termiz absolutely do not correspond to the reality. According to the Defense Ministry and Uzbekistan’s border guard troops, there are no active military developments along the Uzbek-Afghan border, the situation is stable,” Asadov said in a statement placed on Telegram.
IS-K, meanwhile, claimed that it fired the rockets from the Afghan town of Hairatan near the Uzbek border.
IS-K has increased attacks in and around Afghanistan following the U.S.-led military withdrawal from the country in August after 20 years.
The terrorist group has conducted several attacks in neighboring Pakistan, including a deadly suicide bombing of a Shi’ite mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar last month.
In February, the United States offered a $10 million reward for information that helps identify and locate the leader of IS-K in Afghanistan, Sanaullah Ghafari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajir.
The U.S. State Department says Ghafari was appointed to lead IS-K in June 2020 and that he is responsible for approving all IS-K operations throughout Afghanistan and arranging funding for activities.
The State Department has designated Ghafari and two other leaders of the extremist group’s affiliate in Afghanistan as global terrorists.
With reporting by VOA and The Tech Agents
Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Taliban admit to resistance groups against them
Ariana: [Taliban] Badakhshan deputy governor Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi said there has been incidents of insurgency by groups linked to Daesh and the so-called Resistance Front. According to Badakhshan officials, eight so-called resistance fighters have been killed and one arrested in the latest clashes in Badakhshan’s Kohistan district. Click here to read more (external link).
US working with Pakistan to bring about stable, secure Afghanistan: Price
Ariana: The United States is working with Pakistan to bring about a more stable, secure and prosperous Afghanistan that respects the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including minorities and women, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday. During the news conference, Price would not be drawn on commenting on the recent airstrikes by Pakistan against Afghanistan. He deferred the question to the Pakistani government but did say the US was aware of such reports. Click here to read more (external link).
Related
At Least Six Dead In Series Of Blasts At School In Afghan Capital
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
April 19, 2022
At least six people were killed and 11 wounded in three blasts that rocked a boys’ school in a Shi’ite Hazara neighborhood of Kabul on April 19, police in the Afghan capital said.
Khaled Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul Police Command, told RFE/RL that the explosions occurred at the Abdul Rahim Shahid High School, located in the capital’s western neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi.
There were children among the casualties, although it was not immediately clear how many.
A security official told the German news agency dpa that the blasts were caused by hand grenades.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The school is located in the capital’s western neighborhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, an area mainly inhabited by the Hazara community and previously targeted by the militant Islamic State group.
Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said on Twitter that the blasts “caused casualties among our Shi’ite brothers.”
A Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman said a team of investigators had begun work at the scene.
The explosions occurred as students were coming out of their morning classes, a witness said.
In May 2021, bombings near a school in the same area of the Afghan capital killed at least 85 civilians, mainly schoolgirls, and injured dozens of others.
With reporting by AFP and dpa