Taliban and ISIS forces launched a joint attack on a village in northern Afghanistan, killing 50 people including women and children, local officials claimed.
The village, in the Mirzawalang area of Sar-e-Pul province, came under attack by militants from the two groups, Mohammad Noor Rahmani, the head of Sar-e-Pul provincial council said.
Zabiullah Amani, a provincial spokesman, said that the joint force attacked the area Thursday afternoon and had secured the area in 48 hours. He said 10 militants were killed in the attack, and a further 12 injured.
They beheaded some of the 50 victims, and shot others, he said.
A Taliban spokesman denied that the two groups had joined forces.
“it is completely wrong, it is propaganda of our enemy, ISIS is our enemy, there is no ISIS in Sar-e-Pul. Our commander in Sar-e-Pul is called Ghazanfar, who is not an ISIS,” Zabiullah Mojahid, a Taliban spokesman, told CNN.
Another Taliban representative, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, denied killing the civilians, also saying it was “propaganda” from the group’s enemies.
In the statement he said “only 28 local militia were killed”, adding that their bodies were given to local elders.
Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of the Interior, said that the government is planning an operation to retake the area from militants.