“Religious scholars, tribal elders, civil society activists, journalists, and human rights defenders and female journalists are being sacrificed in targeted attacks,” said Zabihullah Farhang, spokesman to AIHRC.
“Any group that resorts on harming civilians is conducting a war crime under the rules of war,” said Laal Gul Laal, the head of Human Rights Organization.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW), meanwhile, in a report said that hundreds of people in the districts that were fallen to the Taliban in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province have been detained and some were killed by the group over their alleged associated with the Afghan government and the country’s security institutions.
The watchdog said that the Taliban have reportedly killed some detainees, including relatives of provincial government officials and members of Afghanistan’s National Police (ANP) and the Afghan National army (ANA).
The Taliban have told members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), including police who have been the principal security force in Kandahar, to register with them to receive letters guaranteeing their safety, the HRW said, quoting a local activist in Kandahar.
According to the report, Taliban forces also gone to the homes of some ANDSF members who had registered, taken them into custody, and killed an unknown number of them.
On Thursday sources familiar with the report said that Unidentified gunmen reportedly have killed “over a 100 civilians” in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province.
The Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) confirmed the report, saying these civilians were killed without any reason.
The Afghan government blamed the Taliban for the murder of civilians.
“The brutal terrorists on the order of their Punjabi bosses (Pakistan) ambushed the homes of the innocent Afghans in certain areas of Spin Boldak, looted the homes and martyred 100 innocent people,” said Mirwais Stanekzai, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.
“They must respect intentional laws and the law of war on the battlefields,” said legal expert Qazi Abdul Rahim.
“If revenge continues in this country, they (Taliban) must remember that the nation will retaliate against them,” said former governor of Helmand Amir Mohammad Akhundzada.
The US Department of State has also raised concerns over reports of extrajudicial killings by the Taliban.
Courtesy: TOLO NEWS
