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Taliban militants pay dearly when hostage steals gun and opens fire — while they are praying
Taliban militants paid dearly after Afghan man they kidnapped stole a gun and opened fire — while they were praying. (Image source: YouTube screenshot)

Taliban militants pay dearly when hostage steals gun and opens fire — while they are praying

The Taliban's first mistake was kidnapping 36-year-old Awal Khan last week in Paktika, Afghanistan. They had no idea what they were in for.

Khan and a local police officer were driving last Wednesday in the Taliban stronghold bordering Pakistan when the militants took them, provincial deputy security chief Abdul Rauf Masood told Agence France-Presse.

The officer was killed, and Khan was taken to a Taliban compound in Gomal district where he was held for hours, the outlet reported.

But soon Khan flipped the script — while the militants were engaged in afternoon prayers.

Khan — despite being handcuffed at the time, Masood told AFP — grabbed a weapon belonging to one of his captors and opened fire.

"Awal Khan sprayed bullets on all of them, killing seven and wounding 18 others," provincial governor spokesman Mohammad Rahman Ayaz told the outlet Thursday.

Khan then fled in a pickup truck belonging to his kidnappers, Ayaz added to AFP.

The escapee's brother is a local police commander and shared details of the incident with authorities, the outlet reported.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to AFP that the militants had kidnapped the two men and that Awal had opened fire on the group — however, Mujahid said only three of them were killed.

The Taliban is often involved in kidnappings of Afghans and foreigners, sometimes holding people for years for prisoner exchanges, the outlet added.

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