Feature: Gun-toting women in N. Afghanistan take stand against Taliban, IS

"The Taliban's barbaric acts and the brutalities committed by the Islamic State (IS) have compelled me to fight back," Badam Gul, 40, told Xinhua, while toting an assault rifle.

Both Taliban fighters and militants loyal to the IS, according to villagers and local officials, have committed indiscriminate crimes including killing and torching houses in parts of the Qushtapa district of the northern Jawzjan province.

Jawzjan province, with Shiberghan as its capital, has been the scene of increasing insurgency over the past couple of years.

With an AK-47 assault rifle slung over her shoulder and dressed in local attire, Gul recounted her experiences of the Taliban and the IS rebels torching scores of houses and murdering dozens of people both young and old in Jarmgar village, in the Qushtapa district, just three weeks ago.

"Daesh (IS) rebels have brutally invaded us, they have indiscriminately killed dozens of villagers including elderly people and youngsters and didn't even spare the children," Gul exclaimed, adding that such barbaric acts have forced regular men and women, like herself, to take up arms and fight back against the onslaught in the Qushtapa district.

The heinous crimes committed by the militants have been corroborated by Jawzjan's deputy police chief, Abdul Hafiz Khashi, who confirmed that the armed insurgents had set several houses on fire in the Qushtapa district.

"Daesh insurgents have vandalized Jarmgar village and committed other odious crimes including killing innocent people and burning houses," Khashi told Xinhua recently.

"The inhumane and barbaric crimes committed by Daesh and Taliban rebels have seen more than 100 women take up arms and resist the onslaught in the Qushtapa district," said Khashi.

Expressing his support of the women standing up to the insurgency, Khashi said the government would back the villagers, including the women, to defend their villages against the attackers.

Cases of women taking up arms against militants has rarely been reported in Afghanistan, and this is the first time that a group of women in significant numbers in Jawzjan province have fought back against the notorious renegades.

Commandant Kaftar was the first female fighter who resisted the Taliban onslaught during the outfit's rule which ended in 2001. Reza Gul, a mother, was the second, and killed 25 Taliban insurgents in a seven-hour gun battle to exact revenge on the militants who killed her son in the western Farah province in 2014.

However, the gunslinging women who are seeking government support to resist the anti-government factions have warned that overlooking their demands would only pave the way for the militants to commit more crimes.

"We are looking for the government to support us and to equip us as soon as possible, otherwise the Daesh rebels will occupy more areas and kill more innocent people," another armed lady, Malaeka warned.

Militants loyal to the IS, have also torched more than 60 residential houses in the Kot district in the eastern Nangarhar province over the past few days.

Malaeka who claims to be the commander of this "all-female uprising" in the Qushtapa district stated, "My sole objective is to see the absolute elimination of Daesh and like-minded groups in my village, my country and the world." Enditem