11 killed, 12 detained in Khogyani night raid

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Special intelligence forces killed and arrested nearly two dozens of people during a nighttime operation in the Khogyani district of eastern Nangarhar province, officials said on Friday, but local residents said civilians among those slain.

Local officials, including the governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani, said a Taliban’s group leader, Qari Rafiullah, and his deputy were among eleven people killed in the last night operation in Bar Bahar area of the Khogyani district.

The raid was carried out on the house of Rafiullah, where he and his deputy Hijrat were killed along with nine others while 12 suspects were detained, said Khogyani quoting the district chief as saying.

He said weapons, ammunition, one motorcycle and one car were also destroyed in the National Directorate of Security or NDS forces raid. More details about the incident would be shared with the media, pending an ongoing investigation, the gubernatorial spokesman said.

A security official in the Khogyani district told Pajhwok Afghan News on the condition of anonymity that a clash broke out after security forces destroyed the house of Rafiullah with landmines.

In the clash, he said, Rafiullah and 10 others were killed. Eight people were killed inside the house of Rafiullah and two inside a neighbor’s and a third house.

The security official said there were no children, women or foreigners among the dead.

A family member of the slain Taliban group leader, wishing not to be named, confirmed his eight family members, including Rafiullah and his deputy, were killed in the attack.

Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghan and US forces had broken the gates of several homes in the Bar Bahar area during the last night operation. He claimed nine civilians were killed and several others arrested during the operation.

Besides Taliban militants civilians have also suffered casualties in previous such night time operations in Nangarhar, prompting local residents and their representatives to demand an end to the raids.

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