An Afghan girl shot dead two Taliban fighters and wounded several more, after they dragged her parents from their home and killed them for supporting the government, officials said.
The incident happened last week when insurgents stormed the home of Qamar Gul, a teenager from a village in Ghor Province.
The fighters were looking for her father, the village chief, local police chief Habiburahman Malekzada said.
Her father was a government supporter, which is why the Taliban fighters went to his house and dragged him out, he said.
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.
Gul is aged between 14 and 16, according to different officials.
It is common for many Afghans to not know their precise age.
Several other Taliban fighters later came to attack the girl’s house, but some villagers and pro-government militia expelled them after a gunfight.
‘HEROIC’ ACT
Afghan security forces have taken Gul and her younger brother to a safer place, said Mohamed Aref Aber, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
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 machine gun across her lap has gone viral in the past few days.
“Hats off to her courage! Well done,” Najiba Rahmi wrote on social media.
‘IRREPLACEABLE’
“Power of an Afghan girl,” Fazila Alizada wrote.
“We know parents are irreplaceable, but your revenge will give you relative peace,” Mohamed Saleh wrote.
The Taliban regularly kill villagers who they suspect of being informers for the government or security forces.
The militants have also stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces, despite agreeing to peace talks with the government in Kabul.
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