Hazara tribesmen carry the coffin of a beheaded Hazara victim…
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Local press reported that riot police intervened in the protest as the demonstration turned violent with people chanting slogans like “Down with Taliban” and “Down with Daesh”, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. This year, the Taliban has extended its reach across Afghanistan in its fight to topple the government, and the Islamic State group is also believed to have a presence in Zabul, as well as in the southeastern Nangarhar province.
“We want justice and we want this government, Ghani and Abdullah, to go so that we can have a government that protects all the people of the country and brings security to the whole country”, civil society activist Zahra Sepehr, one of the protest organizers, said.
“We demand security from the Afghan National Unity Government for people of all communities throughout the country”, he said.
The Hazaras that were slain included two girls, four men as well as a nine-year old woman.
A demonstrator, who identified herself only as Sohaila, said, “We’re from this country”.
Afghan police on Wednesday 11 November fired into the air to disperse protesters who tried to scale the walls of a building near the President’s palace as anger boiled over at the murder of seven members of the Hazara ethnic minority by Islamist militants.
Afghanistan’s intelligence agency rejected the suggestion that IS affiliates were responsible, saying Zabul has been the scene of deadly clashes between the rival Taliban factions for days. Afghan President Ghani condemned the murders as a “heartless killing of innocent individuals” and has reportedly assigned security services to investigate.
The protest came as the United Nations followed the Afghan government and the U.S. in condemning the killings, suggesting they may have been a war crime.
The United Nations (UN)’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom, in a statement decried the deaths as a violation of the worldwide law.
Last week a few Taliban fighters said they would not remain loyal to Omar’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and selected a new leader, Mullah Muhammad Rasool.
Demonstrators stated Hazara individuals have been being killed day by day on the damaging roads between Ghazni, Bamyan and Wardak provinces to the west of Kabul, the place the Taliban have management of a lot of the countryside.
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Many IMU followers in Afghanistan, including those in Zabul, have declared loyalty to the ISIL group, officials have said. The dead were members were Hazaras, an ethnic minority of Shiite Muslims who are regularly the target of sectarian attacks.
