Taliban fighters have executed 22 Afghan commandos. Several videos have surfaced, apparently of the incident, CNN reported.
In a clear but unsteady video, the words ring out: “Surrender, commandos, surrender.” Several men emerge from a building; they are clearly unarmed. Gunfire erupts. At least a dozen men are seen shot to death amid cries of “Allahu Akhbar” — God is Great.
According to CNN, the summary killings took place on June 16 in the town of Dawlat Abad in Faryab province, close to Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan. CNN obtained and verified several videos of the incident and has spoken with witnesses. The Red Cross confirmed the bodies of 22 commandos were retrieved.
The Taliban told CNN the videos showing the commandos being shot were fake and government propaganda to encourage people not to surrender.
A Taliban spokesman said they were still holding 24 commandos who had been captured in Faryab province but provided no evidence. The Afghan Ministry of Defense denied the Taliban was holding the commandos and told CNN they were killed.
The killing of the soldiers stands in stark contrast to the Taliban's efforts to show it is accepting the surrender of soldiers and, in some instances, paying them to go home as it makes territorial gains across Afghanistan.
According to several witnesses interviewed by CNN in Dawlat Abad, the commandos were shot in cold blood.
The Taliban does not want to engage in fighting inside Afghanistan’s cities, a senior leader of the group has said, as thousands of families flee their homes, fearful of living under their rule.
“Now that the fighting from mountains and deserts has reached the doors of the cities, Mujahiddin don’t want fighting inside the city,” Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a message tweeted by a Taliban spokesman on Tuesday, said a report by Al Jazeera. In the last 15 days, Taliban advances have driven more than 5,600 families from their homes, most of them in the northern reaches of the country, according to the government's Refugee and Repatriations Ministry.
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