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Taleban kill many in bus attacks | Taleban kill many in bus attacks |
(20 minutes later) | |
Taleban insurgents have killed at least 27 people travelling on buses in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. | Taleban insurgents have killed at least 27 people travelling on buses in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. |
A Taleban spokesman said that all those killed in the attacks on three buses were Afghan government soldiers, but officials said they were civilians. | A Taleban spokesman said that all those killed in the attacks on three buses were Afghan government soldiers, but officials said they were civilians. |
The attacks happened on Thursday but the bodies have only just been found, dumped over a wide area. | The attacks happened on Thursday but the bodies have only just been found, dumped over a wide area. |
A number of the men were beheaded after the attack in the Maiwand district, local and military sources say. | |
A Taleban spokesman said its fighters had boarded the buses travelling on the province's main highway, removed men identified as soldiers and shot them. | A Taleban spokesman said its fighters had boarded the buses travelling on the province's main highway, removed men identified as soldiers and shot them. |
Afghan officials said all the victims were civilians as soldiers travel in military convoys or by plane. | Afghan officials said all the victims were civilians as soldiers travel in military convoys or by plane. |
Kandahar province has seen fierce fighting in recent months. | Kandahar province has seen fierce fighting in recent months. |
The Afghan army and international forces are fighting a counter-insurgency campaign against anti-government forces in the south of the country, the BBC's Martin Patience reports from the capital, Kabul. | The Afghan army and international forces are fighting a counter-insurgency campaign against anti-government forces in the south of the country, the BBC's Martin Patience reports from the capital, Kabul. |
'Child killed' | |
The casualty figures could not be independently verified. | |
According to police in Kandahar, the militants failed to stop one bus, after which they opened fire, killing a child aboard the vehicle. | |
Stopping another bus carrying about 50 people, they killed 24 of those aboard and freed the rest, Kandahar police chief Matiullah Qateh was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. | |
He added that women and children were aboard the buses involved in the attack. | |
An Afghan defence ministry spokesman, Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying a total of 31 people were killed. | |
Six of the dead were found beheaded in an area away from where the others were shot, the general explained. A village elder also said some of the dead had been decapitated. | |
Taleban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP news agency that those killed were soldiers en route to Helmand province. | |
"We found government documents on them and we killed 27 of them," he said. "The rest, who were civilians, we freed." | |
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