The assault comes a day after the Taliban killed 10 bus passengers and kidnapped dozens of others in northern Kunduz province, as the insurgents step up their annual spring offensive after naming a new leader.
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The attackers stopped three buses on a road and ordered the passengers out, shot dead nine of them and kidnapped the rest, said Mr Massoum Hashemi, deputy police chief of Kunduz.
“The Taliban have brutally killed nine civilians and taken about 20 with them”, Hashemi said. The three buses and a number of minibuses were heading from the capital, Kabul, to the northern provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan, he said.
Death tolls given by Afghan officials ranged from 13 to 17.
Taliban suicide bombers wearing police uniforms raided a courthouse in the eastern Afghan city of Ghazni on Wednesday, June 1, killing 6 people in what they said was revenge for last month’s execution of Taliban-linked prisoners.
Highways around Afghanistan passing through insurgency-prone areas have become exceedingly risky, with the Taliban and other armed groups frequently kidnapping or killing travellers.
The hijacking is blamed to be on Taliban insurgents as told by a provincial official.
After naming a new leader last week, the Taliban have attacked several police bases in the volatile southern province of Helmand in the past few days.
Officials recovered a Pakistani identity card and passport under the fake name Wali Muhammad from the site of the attack, prompting interior minister Nisar Ali Khan to announce that those who helped the Taliban chief get the documents will be punished.
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US President Barack Obama, who authorised the drone strikes, said Mansour had rejected efforts “to seriously engage in peace talks”, asserting that direct negotiations with the Afghan Government were the only way to end the additional conflict.
