JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Islamic State or Daesh fighters and a militia controlled by a powerful lawmaker have beheaded four men from each side after being captured during clashes in tit-for-tat revenge killings in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Sunday.
After government forces conducted operations against Daesh militants in Achin district, hundreds of gunmen loyal to lawmaker Haji Zahir Qadir established a base in the town about a month back.
Fighters for the Islamic State and the uprising members clashed last night in Zor Deh Sarak area. Daesh militants captured four militiamen and the militia captured five Daesh fighters during the clashes, said Achin district chief Haji Ghalib.
“After the clashes, Daesh gunmen beheaded the captured militiamen and in revenge, Qadir’s loyalists decapitated four of the five Daesh militants in their custody. The slain Daesh militants included one person from Terah valley and three from Orakzai tribal region of Pakistan,” Ghalib told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said the militiamen had put on display the beheaded Daesh militants in front of their base and passersby could see them. The district chief condemned the beheading of Daesh militants and said they should have been handed over to the government.
A government official in Nangarhar told Pajhwok Afghan News Haji Qadir’s men late on Saturday moved to the area to bring down Daesh flags which led to a clash between the two sides. The official confirmed the beheadings.
The governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, confirmed the clash between militiamen and Daesh fighters and said an investigation into the incident was underway.
Qadir and Daesh militants have so far said nothing in this regard.
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