5 Quetta Shura members killed in Herat ambush

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Five members of Taliban, involved in drug trafficking, were killed during a clash with security personnel in western Herat province on Monday, the police chief claimed.

Gen. Abdul Baqi Behsudi told a news conference that the fatalities occurred in a predawn encounter in Ghoryan district, west of the provincial capital. The dead belonged to two separate groups of Taliban.

Based on information obtained by police, he said, the five men were Quetta Shura members, who were complicit in the illicit drug commerce. During the ambush, police also seized 320 kilograms of opium, two rifles and a car from the smugglers.

He alleged the militants, who had sneaked into the province from Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta, planned to smuggle narcotics to neighbouring Iran to fund insurgents in Herat.

Syed Gul Hashmi, the crime branch chief, said the dead included Maulvi Ehsanullah, Taliban’s intelligence chief Abdullah, Maulvi Ziaul Haq, Maulvi Abdur Rauf and Saifullah.

The slain individuals, whose bodies were shifted to the Zonal Hospital, were residents of Farah, Helmand and Herat provinces. He confirmed they were part of the Quetta Shura.

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