Afghanistan, USA condemn beheadings of Shiite women and child

This splinter group is headed by Mullah Mohammad Rasool, who has recently sided with Islamic State militants to ensure that he has enough manpower behind him to face off against Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, the leader of the most powerful Taliban faction.

According to security officials in Afghanistan’s Zabul province, the fighting – a few of which has involved heavy weaponry – has raged since Friday, when supporters of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah clashed with fighters loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.

“The United States, Afghan intelligence and other westerners personally contacted us for defection and we rejected them”, said the ex-minister.

This year, a series of kidnappings and murders of Hazara fuelled fears that the group was being deliberately targeted, and the latest killings in the southern province of Zabul triggered a furious wave of reaction on social media. Afghanistan’s Shi’ite Hazara minority is a popular target of attack for Islamist groups trying to make a name for themselves.

He said they had seized 12 Islamic State fighters in Khak-e-Afghan district and hanged them for the killing.

The circumstances surrounding the beheadings are unclear, but they came as Zabul has seen deadly clashes between rival Taliban factions.

“About 40 Taliban from Rasool’s group and 10 from Mansoor’s have been killed in the fight”.

The fighting, in one of the Taliban’s traditional southern strongholds, underlined the risk of fragmentation facing the Islamist movement since it announced earlier this year that its founder, Mullah Omar, had died two years ago. Islam Gul Seyal, the provincial governor’s spokesman, confirmed the battle and said fighting was still going on.

Deepening rifts within the Taliban’s ranks are likely to help ISIS expand its influence in Afghanistan.

IS, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, has been slowly building a presence in Afghanistan, and also controls a number of districts in the eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan.

Niazi said that the new group did not approve of suicide bombings and called for an end to infighting among all Afghans.