Video footage obtained by TOLOnews shows that Taliban militants are extremely active in the Tala Wa Barfak district in Baghlan where at least eight coalminers were killed earlier this month.

The video shows how security forces returned to Baghlan’s capital city, Pul-e-Khumri, after reportedly failing to arrest the perpetrators of the attack on coalminers due to the presence and activity of the Taliban in the district.

TOLOnews’ Hamid Shirzai, who visited the area where the coalminers were shot, said signs of the shooting were still visible in the area.

Shirzai, who also accompanied a military convoy into the district, said as the security forces moved into the area, they could see Taliban strongholds getting stronger near the mountainous areas in Tala Wa Barfak.

“We are in Anar Dara area. We conducted the operation as per the order of President [Ashraf Ghani]. We are here to arrest the two men who allergy gunned down the coalminers. We arrived here but the two suspects are fugitives,” said Lieutenant Colonel Ziauddin, commander of first Battalion of 209 Shahin Corps.

“We arrived here at Anar Dara area and we know who killed the coalminers. We continue our efforts to recognize and arrest the perpetrators,” said Colonel Safi, administrative deputy head of Baghlan Police Headquarters.

Meanwhile, a number of tribal elders said the only way to arrest the killers of the coalminers is to launch a special military operation not a large-scale operation.

“It will be better if they launch a special military operation with the help of investigative organizations, because it is winter and the people will be disturbed and it will not be easy for the government forces to arrest the killers,” said Mawlawi Sadi-ul-Rahman Azimi, member of Afghanistan Ulema Council.

 “The Tala Wa Barfak residents are fully cooperating with security forces in arresting the suspects, but they [the suspects] have not been recognized so far,” said Nooruddin Ahmadi, a tribal elder in Tala Wa Barfak.