Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have banned journalists from going to Yakawlang in the country’s central Bamyan Province, the site of an alleged massacre of over 100 civilians earlier this month, the BBC reported on Sunday. According to the report, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar said journalists were biased and hostile and there was no evidence of a civilian massacre. UN officials confirmed to IRIN on 22 January, however, that reliable sources indicated that the killings in the Yakawlang area of Hazarajat in central Afghanistan had in fact taken place. Moreover, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement that the civilians had deliberately been targeted and killed since the Taliban retook the area which had been overrun on 20 December by Hezb-e-Wahad forces, affiliated with the opposition United Front.
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