An Afghan teen has been hailed as a hero after she used an AK-47 to fatally shoot at least two Taliban fighters — and wound several more — who dragged her parents from their home and killed them for supporting the government, local officials said.
About 40 insurgents last week stormed the village of Geriveh, in central Ghor province, where 16-year-old Qamar Gul was living with her parents and 12-year-old brother Habibullah, officials told The Guardian.
They knocked on the door around 1 a.m. on July 17, according to the report.
“The insurgents came to their doorstep and her mother went to see who was knocking,” provincial governor spokesman Mohamed Aref Aber told the outlet. “When she saw that they were armed, she refused to open the door.”
The attackers quickly shot Gul’s mother, and then barged into the home where they fired at her father, according to Aber.
The insurgents were targeting Gul’s father, the village chief and a government supporter, local police head Habiburahman Malekzada told Agence France-Presse.
Gul quickly jumped into action.
“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,” the police official told AFP.
The Guardian later reported that three insurgents were killed, citing Aber.
Several other Taliban fighters later showed up to attack the home, but a group of villagers and pro-government militiamen engaged them in a gunfight, forcing them to retreat.
Afghan security forces have since moved Gul and her 12-year-old brother Habibullah — who was alongside his sister during the hour-long ordeal — to a safer place, Aber said.
“They were in shock in the first two days and could not talk too much, but are in a good condition now,” he told The Guardian. “They are saying: ‘This was our right, because we did not need to live without our parents.’ They don’t have many relatives other than a half-brother who lives in the same village.”
Following the shooting, supporters flooded social media with praise for Gul’s “heroic” act.
A photo of the teen, wearing a headscarf and holding the gun across her lap, has since gone viral.
“Hats off to her courage!” Najiba Rahmi posted to Facebook. “Well done.”
“Power of an Afghan girl,” wrote Fazila Alizada, another Facebook user.
“We know parents are irreplaceable, but your revenge will give you relative peace,” Mohamed Saleh posted.