Kandahar Municipality on Wednesday buried 20 unclaimed bodies in the province after forensic examinations.

More than 50 unidentified bodies, including women and children, have been buried by Kandahar Municipality over the past year.

“Through a letter, we were asked to bury the unclaimed bodies by holding a religious ritual. Therefore, we buried 20 unclaimed bodies in a religious ritual. During the past year, we buried more than 50 unclaimed bodies, including women and children,” said Zmarayi Sargand, the spokesperson of Kandahar Municipality.

According to forensic unit officials in Kandahar, the bodies were of people who died under various circumstances.

“The guardians of those we buried are not known. These bodies were found by the police in different parts of the city and districts,” said Mohammad Musa, the head of Kandahar forensics unit.

Local residents want the Islamic Emirate to prevent mysterious murders and to identify and punish the perpetrators of such murders.

“It should be found who he was, why he was killed and who were the killers. The government should investigate. This issue can become a big security challenge in the future,” said Mohammad, a resident of Kandahar.

Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC) inaugurated its seventh sales and services center in Kandahar city this week, amid an increasing number of customers.

AWCC officials said they are trying to increase and improve their telecommunication services to the residents of the southwest region and with the additional sales and service center, they will be able to assist more customers.

“This move is not limited to Kandahar, but we have also increased the number of customer service centers in Helmand, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces, and we will increase them in the future as well in order to take care of people’s needs,” said Sayed Noor Ahmad Shah Agha, head of AWCC in southwest Afghanistan.

Local authorities in Kandahar also expressed their satisfaction with the opening of the new AWCC branch in Kandahar city.

“Ninety-nine percent of people use AWCC SIM cards. The remaining one percent use other networks. My request to the authorities is to provide more facilities for the people,” said Mirza Mohammad Zahid, head of the human resources department of Kandahar governor’s office.

The provincial directorate of communications in Kandahar noted that AWCC has now covered all districts of Kandahar.

“The only district left was the remote district of Registan. Alhamdulillah, the people there now also benefit from telecommunication services,” said Noorullah Nouri, provincial director communications in Kandahar.

AWCC is the only company that covers all provinces in Afghanistan with telecommunication and internet services.

Five hundred and twenty-four Afghans arrived in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar at around 10 pm on Sunday night after being freed from Pakistani prisons.

Officials in Kandahar met them, provided the necessary facilities for them and said they will return to their homes Monday morning.

“524 Afghans, including 54 women and 97 children, were released from the prisons of Karachi, and according to the instructions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, all expenses for transportation, food and clothing of the prisoners were paid by the embassy and consulate, and they will be sent to their homes,” said officials.

According to the governor’s media office, Afghans who have been released from Pakistani prisons have “many painful stories in their hearts” and have spoken out about the abuses committed by Pakistani officials.

At the same time, the Afghans are grateful to the leaders of the Islamic Emirate, who worked to secure their release, officials said.

The returnees were provided with health, food and transportation facilities upon their arrival in their country.

This comes after the Pakistani government stated that Afghans without valid visas need to leave the neighboring country by the end of 2022.