By Hamid Shirzai
One of the Baghlan coal miners who survived a deadly shooting on Friday in Tala wa Barfak in Baghlan, said Saturday the group had been targeted due to their religious beliefs.
Early reports indicated 13 coal miners were gunned down by a group of gunmen affiliated to Daesh but on Saturday officials said eight had died and three were wounded. Three others managed to escape.
Mohammad Hussain one of the survivors said the reason was due to their beliefs. Hussain was shot in the back and is being treated in the Pul-e-Khumri hospital.
“We were trying to escape in our vehicle when they [Daesh] shot us. They killed one person and then stopped us and told us you belong to another religion and your death is allowed and then they started shooting us and others fell in the river and I got wounded in my back,” Hussain said.
He said the gunmen, who were masked, called them non-believers.
“We were all colleagues and we were told that we are not Muslim. We told them we were Muslims and that we are workers and we have families and children but they did not care and they shot us,” Hussain said.
Relatives of the victims have called for justice and said that government must prosecute those responsible.
Read the full story at TOLOnews