Dozen passengers killed, 50 others abducted in Afghanistan

At least 12 civilians have been killed and 50 others abducted in two separate attacks by unknown militants on passengers traveling in eastern and northern Afghanistan.

Jawid Salangi, an official in the eastern Afghan province of Ghazni, said that armed men had stopped two cars, ordered all those on board out and shot them dead late Tuesday.

Villagers had found 12 dead bodies near the scene of the attack, including several members of the security forces.

On Wednesday, suspected Taliban militants stopped a bus and a car near the northern city of Kunduz and took away all the 50 passengers with them.

“We are putting all our efforts into freeing them as soon as we can,” said Mahfozullah Akbari, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

On June 2, suspected Taliban militants kidnapped at least 17 people from the Shia Hazara community traveling in vehicles in northern Afghanistan.

Taliban militants also ambushed three buses in Kunduz Province on May 31, killing 19 people and taking away dozens of others, among them police personnel.