Kabul residents on Saturday criticized Massoud supporters for having indiscriminately fired into the air as they drove through the streets of the capital in convoys to mark the day. September 9 is marked each year as the day Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated – which is also the start of Martyrs Week. Saturday was Massoud’s 16th death anniversary.
However, rapid bursts of gunfire were heard throughout the city for most of the day – a move slammed by the public. Angry residents complained that supporters, riding around in cars covered with Massoud’s pictures, also fired off weapons close to check points.
As a result of the shooting, numerous roads around the city were closed off by security forces. Kabul residents blasted security departments for not having controlled the supporters, who had been putting people’s lives at risk, they said.
“Everyone is afraid. Afghanistan is not safe and then they fire in this situation,” a Kabul resident, Ashraf Ghulam Alizada, said. Another resident Mohammad Rafi Osmani said there could be three reasons for the lack of control. He said “either the government does not want to stop the convoys, or government is involved in it.—Tolo News
