Kulchabat, Bala Karz and Mushkizi massacre

Kulchabat, Bala Karz and Mushkizi massacre
Part of Genocide of Afghans during the Soviet-Afghan War
Map of Afghanistan with Kandahar highlighted
Location	Kandahar Province, Afghanistan
Date	12 October 1983
Target	Afghan civilians and anti-communists
Attack type	mass murder, massacre
Deaths	~260–360
Perpetrators	Soviet Union
Motive	reprisals against civilians for anti-communist resistance members

The Kulchabat, Bala Karz and Mushkizi massacre was an alleged war crime reportedly perpetrated by the Soviet Army on 12 October 1983 in the villages of Kulchabat, Bala Karz and Mushkizi in the Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, during the Soviet–Afghan War. Reports indicate that up to 360 people were gathered at the three village squares and shot, including 20 girls and over a dozen older people.^[1][2][3]

According to a Human Rights Watch report, based on eyewitness testimonies, the said three villages were situated along a road between Kandahar and the Soviet military base at Mandisar airport. On 10 and 11 October, the Jamiat-e Islami resistance members attacked and destroyed several Soviet military vehicles in a convoy.^[4] Allegedly, seven tanks were destroyed. They were setting up military outposts around Kandahar.^[5] As a revenge, the Soviet Army and an Afghan collaborator who served as their interpreter went to Kulchabat, Bala Karz and Mushkizi villages, suspected of sheltering the guerilla fighters,^[5] and went from house to house, shooting people living there.^[4] In one house, they locked women and children inside a room and killed them by throwing grenades through the window, bayonetting any survivors. Their estimate is around 100 fatalities in Mushkizi and Bala Karz, as well as 160 to 170 fatalities in Kulchabat.^[4] A witness testified:

Everyone was dead. Ahadat, his wife, and his baby were lying on the floor covered with blood. His 9-year old daughter was hanging over the window, half in the house, half out. It looked like she was shot as she tried to run away. The young son of 13 years old lay crumpled in another corner with his head shot away. I threw up.^[4]

See also

• Laghman massacre
• Rauzdi massacre
• Soviet war crimes

References

1. Richard Bernstein (1 March 1985). "U.N. Rights Study Finds Afghan Abuses by Soviets". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
2. "UN report attacks Afghan massacres". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales. 4 March 1985. p. 7. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
3. Ermacora, Felix (1985). "Report on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan / prepared by the Special Rapporteur, Felix Ermacora, in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1984/55". United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Geneva: 31. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
4. Human Rights Watch (1984). "Tears, Blood and Cries. Human Rights in Afghanistan Since the Invasion 1979–1984" (PDF). pp. 37–38. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
5. "Ex-Afghan Envoy Relays Report of Massacre of 126 by Russians". The New York Times. Associated Press. 20 October 1983. Retrieved 21 July 2021.