Taliban attack buses in south Afghanistan, abduct 60 people

More than 20 people were killed in separate bomb attacks in Kabul and the northern province of Badakhshan on Monday.

Mohammad Ismail, a district police chief in Helmand, says initial reports show the attack happened in Gareshk district.

Taliban on Tuesday kidnapped around two dozen people after pulling them off buses in southern Afghanistan, officials said, the latest in series of abductions on the country’s increasingly risky highways.

The provincial governor’s spokesman, Omar Zwak, said the abducted men had been traveling on a bus and two trucks from the city of Kandahar toward the western province of Herat. “We have started our search and rescue operation”, he said.

At least 27 passengers were kidnapped on Tuesday after Taliban militants intercepted three vehicles in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand.

Witness Agha Jan told AFP the militants, who were wearing army uniforms, initially detained 37 people.

Mujahid further added that 27 people were taken by the Taliban militants and the remaining militants were released after they went through a preliminary interrogation process.

The statement said others would face what the Taliban calls “Islamic justice”.

He said that Nepal will take a decision whether to stop granting permission for foreign employment in Afghanistan after probing the incident and analysing the findings.

Highways around Afghanistan passing through insurgency prone areas have become exceedingly unsafe, with the Taliban and other armed groups frequently kidnapping and killing travelers.