Kabul (Web Desk): Taliban released at least 235 hostages from a remote village in northern Afghanistan where it allegedly massacred around 50 civilians along with Islamic State insurgents but others were still feared held, officials said.
“This evening 235 people including women and children were released from Mirzawalang as a result of mediation by the local elders and provincial officials," Zabihullah Amani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told a foreign news.
Amani said the civilians were released after negotiations between the Taliban and tribal elders. The insurgents were still holding an unknown number of civilians, he said.
Most of the civilians are staying in area mosques and some are with their relatives in the city and provincial officials are trying to provide them food and other necessities until finding a solution for the problem, he said.
Fifty two civilians including women and children have been killed in Mirzawalang in Sayad district since insurgents took control of the area, Amani said.
Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for seizing the area, but he denied that civilians were killed in Mirzawalang.