Ghazni residents stage anti-Taliban rally

GAHZNI CITY (PAN insurgents after a boy was killed in a roadside bombing in Giro district of southern Ghazni province a day earlier.

The blast that also injured a minor girl sparked the protest demonstration in Shela village late on Tuesday.

One of the protestors, Akhtar Mohammad, told Pajhwok Afghan News hundreds of residents of Shela and nearby Shaal village took part in the protest.

He said insurgents had recently planted roadside bombs on several roads in the area, restricting people’s movement.

He said the Taliban used local residents as human shields because they ascended civilian houses’ rooftops to attack Afghan forces.

Mohammad said it was a peaceful protest and residents had decided to pick up guns against the rebels if they continued unleashing atrocities at them and did not pay heed to their problems.

Giro district Chief Abdullah Khairkhwah confirmed the protest, saying 500 families lived in Shaal and Shela villages which lie near the border with Andar district.

Provincial council member and resident of Giro, Nadir Khan Girowal, said the Taliban had mined all roads to the district.

“People have been forced into staging this protest. If the Taliban did not change their behavior then residents would wage a war against them,” he said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said they had no enmity with the people and mines had been planted on roads used by Afghan security forces.

mds/ma

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