May 13. (EUROPE PRESS) –
At least four farmers have been killed and five wounded at the hands of the Taliban in a dispute over the destruction of a poppy field in the Darayim district of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.
Taliban forces reportedly arrived to destroy local poppy crops, but local farmers have asked them for compensation, sparking a dispute, the Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported.
As a result, the Taliban have opened fire on the farmers, killing four and wounding five others. However, another local source has claimed that 15 people have been injured during the dispute, including the district commander and six other Taliban fighters.
Locals, outraged by the Taliban’s behaviour, have demanded that those involved be brought to justice and the Taliban have been seen setting up a barricade in the area fearing a local uprising, but have given no official response to the incident.
According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, opium cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 32 percent over the previous year. , making the 2022 crop the third largest of this crop since monitoring began.
