KABUL: Unknown armed men on a motorbike shot dead five Afghan school boys while they were playing volleyball in a village in Alingar district of eastern Laghman province, the officials said on Friday. However, the Taliban denied any involvement in the killings.
“The young boys, who were school students, were playing volleyball in a village in Alingar district at 12.30pm … a group of gunmen from the nearby village came and shot them,” Sarhdai Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Laghman, said.
“The shooters, who are surely members of the armed opposition, fled the area,” Zwak said, implying the attack was carried out by Taliban militants. “It is not clear yet why they shot dead the boys, but it is clear that the enemies of Afghans cannot tolerate our sports achievements. So, they restore cowardly attacks.”
However, a spokesman for the Taliban said that the group was not responsible for the killings which occurred on Thursday.
“We completely reject this allegation. We are not involved in this killing at all. Those who killed them are not our men,” the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
