Taliban unlawfully killed 13 Hazaras, says rights group

KABUL: Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras, most of them Afghan soldiers who had surrendered to the insurgents, a rights group said on Tuesday.
The killings took place in the village of Kahor in Daykundi province in central Afghanistan on August 30, according to an investigation by Amnesty International. Eleven of the victims were members of the Afghan national security forces and two were civilians, among them a 17-year-old girl. The reported killings took place about two weeks after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in a blitz campaign, culminating in their takeover of Kabul.
At the time, Taliban leaders sought to reassure Afghans that they had changed from their previous harsh rule of the country in the late 1990s. Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard, referring to the killings in Daykundi, said “these cold-blooded executions are further proof that the Taliban are committing the same horrific abuses they were notorious for during their previous rule.” Taliban spokespersons Zabihullah Mujahid and Karimi did not respond to calls seeking comment. The rights group said Sadiqullah Abed, the Taliban-appointed chief of police for Daykundi, denied any killings.