A story of one Afghan girl is gaining widespread attention on social media. When the Taliban came to kill her parents, she took matters into her own hands, bursting from her home brandishing an AK-47 and killing two of the Taliban men.
Qamar Gul, a teen between the ages of 14 and 16, wounded other fighters, too, after her mother and father were executed by the men for giving the government their backing.
The incident happened last week in central Afghanistan. Her late father was the chief of the village village.
According to an Afghan police chief Habiburahman 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.”
The Afghan government has now intervened and removed the girl and her brother from the home, after militants came back to the site looking for revenge.
The girl’s bravery is being praised by Twitter and Facebook users.
“Suffering exists only because weakness exists,” posted one user on Twitter, calling her a “Ninja Assassin.”
Another said she was “a true hero.”
Clashes have escalated in recent weeks between Afghan government forces and Taliban militia after the government failed to free hundreds of jailed Taliban as part of a prisoner swap agreed by both sides.
The defence ministry said a suicide car bomber in central Afghanistan targeted a convoy of Afghan army troops, killing eight soldiers. Taliban Islamist militants claimed responsibility for the attack amid a nationwide escalation of violence.
In a statement, the defence ministry said a car bomber targeted army troops in Monday’s incident in the district of Sayed Abad in Wardak province, killing eight soldiers and wounding nine more.
The Taliban, claiming responsibility, said dozens of Afghan special forces were killed in their latest deadly assault on government forces, who have suffered many casualties in the recent fighting.
A pact signed by the United States and Taliban in Doha in February laid out plans for a withdrawal of foreign forces from the war-torn country in exchange for security guarantees from the militants and negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban for a peace settlement to end the 18-year-old war have been delayed over the release of nearly 600 Taliban prisoners Kabul says were involved in major attacks.
As part of the Doha deal, the Afghan government has released more than 4,000 Taliban prisoners and the militant group has freed hundreds of government troops.