Joint Taliban-ISIS Attack Kills Dozens, Afghan Officials Say
6, 2017
KABUL, Afghanistan — Dozens of civilians and militia forces were killed in northern Afghanistan in what officials on Sunday
described as an attack by Taliban fighters teamed up with a commander claiming allegiance to the Islamic State.
Several local officials say the Taliban joined forces with Sher Mohammed Ghazanfar, a local
commander claiming allegiance to the Islamic State, to overrun the Mirza Olang area.
Haji Ghulam Mehdawi said that This was a massacre — they executed 24 people at once, then they killed a woman
and her husband near the mill, four people inside the mosque,
Aminyar said that It was a joint Daesh and Taliban operation,
Mr. Aminyar said 18 of the people killed had been members of the Afghan Local Police,
a government militia, and other local militias on the government payroll.
" "Despite several demands for air support and the special forces," he said, "the demands were ignored by central government.
that The Taliban were led by Mullah Nader and Daesh was led by Sher Mohammed Ghazanfar.
Intelligence and security officials have expressed uncertainty over whether what operates as the Islamic State in parts of Afghanistan is really tied to the group’s headquarters in Syria
and Iraq at all, or if it is just the Taliban and other militant groups with a new identity.