ソ連軍侵攻・駐留時代のものか、集団埋葬地発見　アフガン

【カブールＡＦＰ＝時事】アフガニスタン東部ホスト州当局は１２日、旧ソ連軍侵攻・駐留時代のものとみられる集団埋葬地が発見されたと明らかにした。少なくとも１００人の遺体が埋められていたという。（写真は、アフガニスタン東部ホスト州で、旧ソ連時代のものと思われる集団埋葬地を掘り起こす住民や地元当局）
　ホスト州のビスミラ・ビラル知事によると、集団埋葬地は１０日に中部サルバニ地区で小規模ダムの建設中に見つかった。
　ビラル氏はＡＦＰに対し、これまでの調査から、１９７９年４月から１９８０年３月に殺害され埋葬されたと説明した。少なくとも１００人の遺体が見つかっており、全員が民間人とみられ、服が残っている女性のものも含まれていたという。
　地元住民は、埋葬されていたのは１９７８年にソ連が支援する共産主義勢力によるクーデターが起こった際の犠牲者だとしている。
　住民のサラム・シャリフィさんは、遺体について「残虐な共産党当局に裁判もなく、野蛮な方法でここに連れてこられた人々だ」と語った。シャリフィさんの父親も、共産党政権下で行方不明となり、今も遺体が見つかっていない。
　「彼らは殉教者で、われわれはその子孫だ。残虐行為の歴史は決して忘れない」と訴えた。
　当局は発見された遺体を別の場所に埋葬するよう指示したため、住民は当局の助けを借りて作業を進めていた。墓の脇には袋に入れられた乾いた骨が積み重ねられていた。
　別の住民は「埋葬されていた殉教者が誰かは分からない」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/14-16:21）

A mass grave containing around 100 bodies believed to date from Afghanistan's Soviet-backed government era has been discovered in the country's eastern Khost province, local officials said on Monday.
The grave was found Saturday during construction of a small dam in the Sarbani area of central Khost, mayor Bismillah Bilal said.
According to the initial information, these people were buried here after being killed in 1358 in the Afghan calendar, corresponding to April 1979 to March 1980, he told AFP.
At least 100 bodies were discovered in the grave, Bilal added, noting that some remains bore women's clothing and that all appeared to be civilians.
Local residents said the remains belonged to victims of the violence that followed the 1978 Soviet-backed communist coup 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.
They were martyred and we are their descendants. This is a cruelty that history will never forget, Sharifi told AFP.
A committee has been appointed to relocate the remains, with residents helping municipality workers to remove the bodies from the site, piling the dry bones into bags that lined the excavated grave on Monday.
No one knows who these martyrs are, said resident Mandair Mangal. They were all buried in the earth and we are taking out the bones and sorting them.
After decades of conflict -- including the Soviet invasion from 1979, the following civil war and the US-led occupation -- many mass graves have been found across Afghanistan.
In 2009, another mass grave of victims of the Soviet-backed government era was discovered, containing at least 20 bodies.
More recently, in September 2022, a mass grave containing the remains of 12 people was found in Spin Boldak, a site of fierce fighting between former Afghan government forces and Taliban fighters during their two-decade insurgency before they seized power in 2021.