Taliban kills seven out of 70 abducted civilians in Afghanistan's Kandahar

Kabul [Afghanistan], July 23 (ANI): The Taliban fighters have executed seven civilians after abducting at least seventy people in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan over the alleged cooperation with the government and the security forces. "The civilians were abducted from three different villages in Shah Wali Kot district last week for having links with the government and for not supporting the Taliban led-insurgency," Khaama Press quoted a spokesman for Kandahar police Zia Durani, as saying. The civilians were shot dead by the Taliban insurgents on Saturday. The Taliban abducted 70 people on Friday from their houses in a village along the Kandahar-Tarinkot highway in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province. The motive of kidnappings is unclear but Taliban insurgents have been kidnapping civilians across the country, mainly on the highways where the Taliban insurgents stop the vehicles and kidnap the civilians for ransom or to bargain for the release of detained jihadis. Provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq confirmed the execution of the civilians and said the main motive behind the abduction and the execution has not been ascertained so far. The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not made an official comment. (ANI)