Kabul, May 24: Insurgents on motorbikes shot and killed a tribal elder in northern Afghanistan who had resisted Taliban in the region and who planned to attend an upcoming government-organised peace conference, officials and family members said today.
Elder Horal Mohammad Zabet was watching over his flock of grazing sheep with his son Saturday when about 15 gunmen on motorbikes drove up and surrounded Zabet.
“They started shooting from two directions at my father. He took out his gun and fired back at them, but after 20 minutes of shooting he was dead,” said the son, Abdul Qayum Halimi.
He tried to call for help but it was about 6 pm, the time that Taliban shut off phone service in the area, so he couldn’t get through to anyone.
–Agencies