Monitoring Desk
SHIBERGHAN: Dozens of Daesh rebels and 10 civilians have been killed in airstrikes in the Darzab district on northern Faryab province, police said on Tuesday. Faryab police Chief Brig. Gen. Mohammad Jawzjani said the Islamic State fighters had amassed in Alkhani and Sardara villages of the district when they were targeted in the airstrikes.
He said 26 Daesh gunmen, including three French and four Uzbek nationals, were killed and tens of others wounded in the airstrike
He said key local figures of the so-called IS group, Qari Zia and Yaqoub, were also among the dead.
The police chief said exact number of those injured in the airstrike could not be ascertained, but two civilians who had been in Daesh custody got injured.
There were rumors about the death of another key Daesh commander in northern Jawzjan province, Qari Hekmat, in the airstrike.
However, Qush Tepa district chief Aminullah said Qari Hekmat had escaped to the district from Darzab. Darzab district chief, Baz M. Darw, said at least three Daesh hideouts were pounded, killing 65 insurgents including foreign rebels.
Meanwhile, Dadullah, a public uprising group commander, said 10 civilians, including five women, four men and a child, were killed in the airstrike.
He said the victims were travelling to Pul-i-Cheragh district in a vehicle when Daesh gunmen stopped them to use their vehicle for evacuating their injured fighters.
But an airstrike took place there, killing the civilians and the daesh men, Dadullah said, adding the bodies were beyond recognition.
But the police spokesman said he had no report about civilian casualties in the airstrikes.
