New mass grave containing 100 bodies found in Afghanistan

A mass grave containing around 100 bodies believed to date back to the era of the former Soviet-backed Afghan government has been found in the province of Khost in eastern Afghanistan, according to officials in the province.

The mayor of Khost, Basir Bilal, said that the mass grave was discovered on Saturday during the construction of a small dam in the Sarbani area in central Khost.

According to initial information, these people were buried here after being killed in the year 1358 in the Afghan calendar, between April 1979 and March 1980.

Bilal added that the grave contains “at least 100 bodies,” some of them wearing women’s clothing and all appear to be civilians.
Local residents said that the remains belong to victims of the violence that followed the communist coup supported by the Soviets in 1978 in Afghanistan.

“In 1358, these people were brought here in a merciless, barbaric way by the cruel communist authorities without trial,” said Salam Sharifi, whose father disappeared under the communist government, his remains never found. 

Sharifi added, “They were martyred and we are their descendants; this is a brutality that history will never forget.”

A committee was appointed to transfer the remains, and municipal workers assisted residents in excavating the bodies and collecting the dry bones in bags placed next to the grave on Monday.

Mandir Mangal, a resident of the area, said, “No one knows who these martyrs are. They were all buried under the soil, and we are removing the bones and sorting them.”

After decades of conflict spanning from the Soviet invasion in 1979, the subsequent civil war, and US intervention, numerous mass graves have been discovered in various parts of Afghanistan.

In 2009, another mass grave containing at least 20 bodies of victims from the era of the Soviet-backed government was found.

In September 2022, a mass grave containing the remains of 12 people was discovered in Spin Boldak, a site of intense fighting between the former Afghan government forces and Taliban fighters during their two-decade insurgency before seizing power in 2021.