Eight Afghans reported killed in Tajikistan

AIBAK (PAN): Eight Afghan citizens were killed by Tajik forces after they crossed the border into the neighbouring country from northern Samangan province, residents said on Wednesday, but local officials expressed unawareness about the incident.

A former member of the Wolesi Jirga, Ahmad Khan Samangani, told Pajhwok Afghan News that a 45-member group of Afghans went to Tajikistan for tourism few weeks back.

They were arrested by Tajik forces while collecting herb plants in Kolab area, he said, claiming four of the detainees were killed four days after their arrest.

Samangani said he had shared the incident with parliament and had called for seriously investigating into the killings.

He also said the Wolesi Jirga secretary had promised to take up the issue with Tajikistan embassy in Kabul.

A resident of Gul Qishlaq village in Aibak city, Hafizullah, said his brother Abdul Samad along with 44 others people from Samangan had gone to Tajikistan with a trader Haji Faqir 45 days ago.

He added that a dozen of Afghans who were able to escape had reached northern Takhar province through Badakhshan.

Mohammadullah, one of the escapees, said that the dead bodies of his eight friends had been transferred to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, by Tajik soldiers and relatives of the victims had been informed that the bodies had been released to Afghan embassy in Tajikistan.

Samangan Governor Faizullah Anosh said he had no details about the incident.

A relative of one of the victims, Asadullah, said the dead Afghans were of ages between 20 and 30 and they were residents of Tota, Gul Qishlaq and Orlamsh and Hazrat Sultan districts of Samangan.

Calls seeking comments in this reagard from the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Affairs were not answered.

mm/ma

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