At Least 17 People, Including Children, Killed In Clashes In Western Afghanistan - Source

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2021) Over a dozen people were killed in a clash between the Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist group) militants and a group of armed men in the western Afghan province of Herat, a source at a local hospital told Sputnik.

"Today, the bodies of 17 people, including seven children, three women and seven men, were taken to a hospital in the province of Herat. All of them died from gunshot wounds," the source said on Sunday.

According to the Afghan authorities, the Taliban carried out a special operation in Herat on Sunday, against local criminals involved in kidnappings.

At least three of the criminals were killed.

The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan after the seizure of the capital, Kabul, on August 15, which led to the collapse of the previous government and triggered mass evacuations of foreign workers and Afghan collaborators. The last standing province of Panjshir fell in early September, after which the Taliban announced a new all-male government, led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a former foreign minister during the previous Taliban rule, who has been under UN sanctions since 2001.