Residents seek probe into Samangan deaths

AIBAK (PAN): Hundreds of residents protested on Saturday against police for killing two civilians in northern Samangan province. However, police insisted the dead were militants.

Nearly 200 residents of the Zeraki area of Dara-i-Sauf Payeen district brought the dead bodies to the provincial capital, Aibak, and put them in front of the governor’s house.

They said police had killed the civilians. Abdul Jabbar, 65, the father of Tash Faulad, one of the victims, said police killed his son. He accused police of killing and harassing people at the behest of their foes.

Fazal Din, a relative of one of the victims, blamed the police for killing “innocent” people. The protestors urged the president and the national assembly to investigate the incident.

Police chief, Brig. Gen. Khalil Andarabi, said a group of militants attacked a police patrol in the area on Friday. In the ensuing clash, he said, two attackers, including Tash Faulad, were killed and two others injured.

He said the clash lasted two hours. Three AK-47s were recovered from the attackers, Gen. Andarabi claimed, saying some eight militants have escaped to nearby mountains.

The acting district chief, Haji Abdullah, confirmed the incident. He said a former leader of the Jamiat-i-Islami, Tash Faulad, was among those killed.

Governor Khairullah Anosh, speaking to the protestors, promised an early investigation into the killings.

mm/ma/mud

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