News / Afghanistan

Gunmen kill 9 Shia miners in Afghanistan's Baghlan

Friday, 06 January 2017 4:18 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 06 January 2017 6:18 PM ]

The photo taken on November 5, 2016, shows a group of Afghan Shia Muslims walking along a mountain path in Bamiyan province.

Armed men have gunned down nine Shia miners in Afghanistan's northern province of Baghlan.

"Nine coalminers were killed by unknown gunmen in Tala wa Barfak," district governor Faiz Mohammad Amiri told media on Friday.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings in the remote district, but the government in Kabul blamed the Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

"They were heading home when their vehicles were stopped by gunmen" who shot them dead, Amiri said.

The governor of Bamiyan province, apparently where the Shia coalminers were originally from, confirmed the deadly incident.

Daesh has reportedly managed to recruit from Taliban militants and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Until a few months ago, Daesh was largely confined to the eastern province of Nangarhar bordering Pakistan, where it is notorious for its brutal tactics, including beheadings.

However, the government this week said the Takfiri group was steadily expanding into other provinces.

About 2,000 Shias in western Afghanistan staged a protest on January 3 against growing attacks by Daesh and demanded protection from the government.

Last year, Afghanistan witnessed a wave of attacks by Daesh on Shia Muslims.

In October, over a dozen Shias were killed in a powerful blast at a mosque in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, hours after gunmen targeted Shia worshipers in a shrine in Kabul and killed 18 people.

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