KANDAHAR, June 19: An Afghan legislator alleged on Monday that the Taliban had killed his 32 friends and relatives in southern Afghanistan and that 10 others were missing.
Dad Mohammad Khan said 27 of the men had been killed in Helmand province when they had gone to the scene of an earlier attack in which five others were shot dead.
“Yesterday morning in Taliban attacks, 32 of my relatives and friends were killed,” said Dad Khan, the influential former intelligence chief of the province.
“Ten relatives of mine are still missing and five are wounded,” he said.
One of the five men killed in the earlier ambush was a brother of Khan named Juma Gull, a former governor of Helmand’s Sangin district.
The group had been returning from a visit to Ghorak district in neighbouring Kandahar province. “Taliban attacked their vehicle and killed my brother, my son and three other people,” Mr Khan said.
“On hearing the news my other brother Gull Mohammad and other relatives rushed to the site of the incident. They were ambushed by Taliban again. Some of them were killed at the site, and some were killed in different locations.
“Today we have recovered 32 bodies of my family members, relatives and friends.”
The incident was confirmed by deputy provincial governor, Mullah Amir Akhund.
“A total of 30 people were killed in the two attacks in Sangin district yesterday, which includes two brothers of MP Dad Mohammad, one of his sons and the rest are mostly his relatives,” he said.
“His other son and three more are wounded.”
A self-proclaimed Taliban spokesman said the movement was responsible for the attacks.—AFP
