Qamar gul the Afghan girl who killed two terrorists to defend her family

Armed With AK-47, Afghan Girl Shoots Down Two Terrorists In Revenge After They Killed Her Father

2 min


When her home was attacked last year, 15-year-old Qamar Gula pulled out an AK-47, killing two men and wounding a third.

The young Afghan girl was hailed as a hero on social media for fighting back against Taliban militants who reportedly killed her parents.

But the story behind what happened that night was more complicated.

According to BBC News, the gunmen were looking for her father, the village chief. They wanted him because he supported the Afghan government. When his wife resisted, they took them outside and shot them. 

Local police head Habiburahman Malekzada recalled the incident and said:

Qamar Gul, who was inside the house, took an AK-47 gun the family had and first shot dead the two Taliban fighters who killed her parents, and then injured a few others. 

But what exactly happened that night?

Qamar Gula described the events of that night in an interview with the BBC.

The militants entered the village at night, under the cover of darkness.

According to Gul, it was around 1 am when they burst through the front door of their home. In her bedroom, Gul, who was woken by the noise, stayed put and quiet. All she worried was about her 12-year-old brother in his bedroom.

Then she heard the men take her parents outside the small, hillside home.

The next thing she heard were gunshots, she said.

“They executed them.”

Qamar Gul had grown up in the small rural village of Griwa, in a volatile part of Afghanistan. She was an outwardly shy and quietly spoken teenager. But her shyness did not take her courage away. She was good at handling guns and firing them accurately from a young age — thanks to the self-defence training her father gave her when she was still a kid.

That night, instead of hiding, Gul grabbed her father’s gun — the good ol’ AK-47 — and opened fire at the gunmen standing outside. She continued firing until she was nearly out of bullets.

Eventually, about an hour after they appeared at her parent’s house, the gunmen retreated into the dark night.

Outside the house lay five dead bodies: those of her dad and mom, an elderly neighbour who was also her relative, and two of the militants.

“It was horrific,” she said. “They were so cruel. My father was disabled. My mother was innocent. And they just killed them.”

Social media users praised the teenager.

As Gul and her younger brother were airlifted out of their district by military helicopter and swept to a local safehouse, social media exploded with the story of the young girl who had taken up arms in self-defence.

It is not uncommon in Afghanistan for civilians to be praised by the president for defeating Taliban attacks. But when President Ashraf Ghani invited Gul to the capital Kabul, social media users praised the move as well.

Hats off to her courage,” a Facebook user named Najiba Rahmi said.

“We know parents are irreplaceable, but your revenge will give you relative peace,” said Mohamed Saleh, also on Facebook.

Another called Nooria a “symbol of Afghan women who succeeded to defend her life”.

“There are many Afghan victims who couldn’t do anything. They are suffering the pain of wounds they have because of holy war by Taliban.”

The Taliban denied their fighters had been involved, far less killed, in the incident and called it government propaganda. However, later in the shoot-out, more Taliban gunmen came to attack Gul’s house in revenge. They were beaten back by villagers and pro-government militia.

At the scene of the attack the following day, local police discovered identity cards on the bodies of the two dead men. They were both known Taliban supporters, officers told the BBC.

Meanwhile, local villagers and Afghan government officials declared victory over a “massive” Taliban attack and proclaimed Qamar Gul “a true hero”.


Stasu Raaye

Muneeb

Electric, eclectic, eccentric - in that order! Sucker for fries and ghatti wrejay. Driven by FOMO.