Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
October 22, 2020
Afghan officials say 12 children were killed and several others were wounded in an air strike on a mosque in the northern Takhar Province.
The strike occurred on October 21 in the Baharak district, some 15 kilometers from the regional capital of Takhar, where Taliban fighters had killed dozens of Afghan security forces in the early morning, provincial councilor Mohammad Azam Afzali said.
The provincial governor spokesman also confirmed the report.
A warplane bombed the mosque after receiving information that Taliban militants who were involved in the hours-before bloody attack on security forces were hiding there, Afzali added.
Security officials have yet to comment on the air strike, and it is not clear whether it was conducted by Afghan or foreign forces.
However, the militants had already left the mosque, Afzali and another security source said.
Tolo News quoted an unnamed source as saying that the target of the strike had been a madrasah.
Earlier on October 22, Takhar’s deputy police chief Raz Mohammad Doorandish and nearly 50 members of Afghan security forces were killed in clashes with the Taliban in Baharak, according to officials.
The Taliban attacked security forces in the Masjid-e-Safid village of Baharak, according to local officials. The Taliban has also suffered heavy casualties in the clashes, but there is no exact information.
Violence in Afghanistan continues despite ongoing peace talks between the representatives of the government and the militants in Qatar that kicked off last month.
The Taliban so far has refused to accept a cease-fire.
A Taliban assault by the militants in the southern province of Helmand forced nearly 40,000 civilians to flee their homes this month, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
“Disruptions in telecommunications, the threat of improvised explosive devices, and the continued closure of the highway between Kandahar and Helmand following the destruction of several bridges are adding to the challenges,” said Caroline Van Buren, the UNHCR’s representative to Afghanistan.
With reporting by dpa and tolonews.com
Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Related
Indeed;
those foreign goofy asses
are
striving
extremely
to
establish
a serious government of their choice
in
strictly
“MUSLIM-POPULATED
Afghanistan- but; ironically, no
respect, whatsoever, is
extended
to
the real absolute majority people
of
Afghanistan ((%100)) !
===
==
=
*You
never
had a chance
and
never will !
*