Last Updated: May 11, 2015 |
- We are tracking this story closely and will post updates as it becomes available
Update As of May 11, 2015:
- TOLO: 19 of 31 kidnapped has been released – President Ashraf Ghani – May 11
- President Ghani: “31 Hazara kidnapping case” conspiracy against government – Mar 19
- Hazara Protesters in Ghazni threaten to shutdown Kabul-Qandahar highway over lack of action – Mar 17
- Residents of Zabul demand release of Hazaras – Mar 9
- Abducted Hazara Passengers Possibly in Zabul Mountains: MPs – Mar 9
- Abducted Hazara Passengers Are Alive: Ex-Hazara VP Khalili – Mar 6
- Taliban deny Afghan Shia Kidnap – Mar 6
- Operation to rescue Hazara passengers delayed by weather – Mar 5
- 48 killed in rescue operation to free Hazara passengers – Mar 4
- Rescue operation launches in Zabul to free 30 Hazaras after talks between terrorists and Pashtun elders fail to secure their release – Mar 3
- Chechens and Pakistan-based Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LEJ) behind kidnappings – Mohammad Ashraf Nasiri, Acting Governor of Zabul – Feb 27
- List of 30 passengers via Bilal Sarwary, BBC
- One of the kidnapped Hazara reportedly freed
- Even though some are pointing to ISIS, their involvement has not been confirmed
- Few days before kidnapping, ISIS flyers ‘warning Hazaras’ were found in Hazara neighborhood of Dasht-e Barchi in Kabul via KabulPress (Dari)
- Account of ‘how kidnapping happened’ is mixed with some saying kidnappers were in black clothes while some news reporting them in Army uniform.
Poster by Hazara Activists – ’31 Missing #Hazara Passengers – We Await Your Safe Arrival’
Feb 24, 2015: Militant Gunmen has kidnapped 30 Hazaras after singling them from other bus passengers. The incident happened on Qandahar-Kabul highway in Shajoy district in Zabul Province. The passengers were reportedly on the way to Kabul from Iran.
gunmen have demanded the discharge of one of their vehicles seized. It is unknown what might be loaded in that truck or weather gunmen would free the kidnapped people if the truck is let go. The demand was made to some local elders.
Eyewitness: Mr. Ezzatullah (Shia, Hazara, one of bus passengers) via WSJ:
Sunnis were allowed back on the bus. The gunmen then confiscated the mobile phones of the abducted passengers and ordered them to walk into the desert, where a minibus was waiting with armed men on a motorcycle as an escort.
The gunmen packed the passengers onto the new vehicle, but Mr. Ezzatullah said he was released along with another man because the minibus was full. He later reached Kabul on another bus.
“The armed men were speaking in Dari and Pashto,” he said, referring to Afghanistan’s two most widely spoken languages.
Zabul Gov. Mohammad Ashraf:
The gunmen kidnapped the 30 people, all men, from two buses on a major road in Zabul province. Women, children and non-Hazaras were left behind.
Sources:
- WSJ – Gunmen Seize 30 People From Bus in Afghanistan – Feb 24
- Washington Post – Officials: Gunmen kidnap 30 Hazaras in southern Afghanistan
- CBS – ISIS kidnaps dozens in Afghanistan, official says – Feb 24
- AP – Officials: Gunmen kidnap 30 Hazaras in southern Afghanistan – Feb 24
- BBC – Afghanistan kidnap: Gunmen seize 30 Hazara men in Zabul – Feb 24
Afghanistan kidnap: Gunmen seize 32 Hazara men in Zabul added by admin on
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