Republican Front Claims It Set Fire to Convoy Carrying Bamiyan Minerals
The Afghanistan Republican Front says its forces set fire to a convoy of vehicles belonging to the Taliban administration that was transporting ore from Bamiyan in the Siyah Dara area at around 8 p.m. on Saturday, 3 October. The claim has not been independently verified.
In a statement, the front described natural and mineral resources as the property of all the people of Afghanistan and called the Taliban administration’s extraction of them plunder. The Afghanistan Republican Front also warned parties involved in mining that it considers them military targets and urged them to stop cooperating in this sector.
The Afghanistan Republican Front had previously also claimed responsibility for attacks on several trucks carrying coal in Sar-e Pul province.
In 1403, the Taliban administration’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum handed over the extraction of five lead and zinc sites in Yakawlang district of Bamiyan to private companies. According to the text, this transfer was made in exchange for the construction of a road, a water dam and a hospital in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Maidan Wardak provinces, and the output from these mines has been sold regularly since then.
