Dozens of civilians abducted and killed in Afghanistan
Gunmen in the remote central-western Afghan province of Ghor rounded up dozens of civilians and executed them on Wednesday in an attack that officials blamed on ISIS fighters retaliating for the death of one of their commanders.
If confirmed as the work of ISIS, it would mark a major departure for the radical group, which has hitherto been largely confined to the eastern province of Nangarhar since its appearance in Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
However there was no independent verification and the Taliban, who denied responsibility, said the killings appeared to have been prompted by ethnic rivalries fuelled by a clash over sheep-stealing. The killings, in any case, underlined the lack of security across Afghanistan, prompted not just by the Taliban insurgency and ISIS-led violence but by a wider breakdown in law and order as government control has slipped.
