An Afghan girl said Wednesday she was ready to confront any other Taliban insurgents who might try to attack.
The girl killed two Taliban militants and wounded several more after they dragged her parents from their home and killed them for supporting the government, officials said.
Taliban militants killed by a girl
The Afghan girl, Qamar Gul, 15, killed the Taliban militants when they stormed her home last week in a village in the Taywara district of the central province of Ghor.
“I no longer fear them and I’m ready to fight them again,” Gul told by telephone from a relative’s home.
It was about midnight when the Taliban arrived, Gul said, recounting the events of that night.
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She was asleep in her room with her 12-year-old brother when she heard the sound of men pushing at the door of their home.
“My mother ran to stop them but by then they had already broken the door,” Gul said.
“They took my father and mother outside and shot them several times. I was terrified”.
But moments later, “anger took over”, she said.
“I picked up the gun we had at home, went to the door and shot them”.
https://twitter.com/yogendrapal72/status/1285787261703843840
Gul said her brother helped when one of the insurgents, who appeared to be the group’s leader, tried to return fire.
“My brother took the gun from me and hit (shot) him. The fighter ran away injured, only to return later,” Gul said.
By then, several villagers and pro-government militiamen had arrived at the house. The Taliban eventually fled following a lengthy firefight.
Shooting down Taliban insurgents
Officials said the Taliban had come to kill Gul’s father, who was the village chief, because he supported the government.
The fighters were looking for her father, the village chief, local police head Habiburahman Malekzada told. Her father was a government supporter, which is why the Taliban fighters went to his house and dragged him out, when his wife resisted, the Taliban fighters killed the couple outside their home, Malekzada said.
“Qamar Gul, who was inside the house, took an AK-47 gun the family had and first shot dead the two Taliban fighters who killed her parents, and then injured a few others,” he said.
The insurgents regularly kill villagers they suspect of being informers for the government or security forces.
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Taywara district, where Gul’s village is located, is a remote area with sporadic communication and the scene of near-daily clashes between government forces and the Taliban.
Gul is aged between 14 and 16, according to different officials. It is common for many Afghans to not know their precise age.
Gul said her father had taught her how to shoot an AK-47 assault rifle.
“I am proud I killed my parents’ murderers,” she said.
“I killed them because they killed my parents, and also because I knew they would come for me and my little brother.”
The ‘heroic’ girl regrettably could not say good bye
Afghan security forces have now taken Gul and her younger brother to a safer place, said Mohamed Aref Aber, spokesman to the provincial governor.
Gul regrets she was unable to say goodbye to her mother and father.
“After I killed the two Taliban, I went to talk to my parents, but they were not breathing,” she said.
Qamar Gul, a young girl and her brother, have killed two Taliban fighters and pushed back several others in Tewri district of Ghor province, after the insurgents killed three members of their family. pic.twitter.com/tJa7K2STw5
— Afghanistan Times (@AfghanistanTime) July 19, 2020
“I feel sad, I could not talk to them one last time.”
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Since the incident, social media networks have been flooded with praise for Gul’s “heroic” act.
A photograph of Gul, wearing a headscarf and holding a machinegun across her lap has gone viral in the past few days.
“Hats off to her courage! Well done,” wrote Najiba Rahmi on Facebook. “Power of an Afghan girl,” wrote another Facebook user Fazila Alizada.
“We know parents are irreplaceable, but your revenge will give you relative peace,” said Mohamed Saleh in his post on Facebook.
Security fears linger on
Hundreds of people have called on the government to protect Gul and her family.
“I demand that the president help transfer her to a safe place as her and her family’s security is at risk,” prominent women’s rights activist and former lawmaker Fawzia Koofi wrote on Facebook.
President Ashraf Ghani also praised Gul for “defending her family against a ruthless enemy”, his spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told.
A Taliban spokesman has confirmed an operation took place in the area of the attack, but denied any of the group’s fighters had been killed by a woman.
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The Taliban regularly kill villagers who they suspect of being informers for the government or security forces.
In recent months, the militants have also stepped up their attacks against security forces despite agreeing to peace talks with Kabul.
AFP with additional input by GVS News Desk