Asif Waziri Taliban police spokesman in Balkh province told Afghanistan International that house-to-house search operations will continue for seven days in Mazar-i-Sharif city. Waziri added that the search operations had started on Tuesday to provide security to the residents.
Local sources claim that the Taliban is conducting house-to-house search operations without any female official. According to witnesses, Taliban arrested residents of areas dominated by Tajik and Hazara ethnicity. It has been reported that search operations are more focused in Police District 4.
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban’s spokesperson, had earlier said that the group has no intention of searching houses again. However, Taliban officials confirmed that these house-to-house searches in Balkh are being conducted in coordination with the intelligence directorate and the Taliban’s army.
The search operations started after Wednesday’s explosion, in which according to the Taliban, at least six people got injured.
Taliban has always attributed such attacks to the Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) and has called these search operations necessary in order to fight against the IS-K and collect weapons.
