Residents of Chah Ab district clashed with Taliban forces and workers from a Taliban-linked gold mining company, the sources told Amu TV.
Five local residents and one employee of the mining company were killed, while at least 16 others
According to the spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and petroleum, Humayoun Afghan revealed that “A clash between employees of a contracted company and local residents over the extraction of a gold mine in Chah Ab district of Takhar province has resulted in both human and financial losses.”
“A delegation from the ministry has been sent to Takhar to investigate the incident,” he told reporters.
Officials and medics in Takhar did not respond to requests by reporters to comment on the incident.
Along with gold, Afghanistan mines marble, minerals, gemstones and coal.
Resources, including copper and lithium, buried across Afghanistan’s rocky landscape are estimated to be worth a trillion dollars, according to US and UN assessments from 2010 and 2013.
The Taliban government has vowed to restore security to the country and is courting Afghan and foreign investors to exploit its underground wealth and secure a crucial revenue stream as foreign aid funding dries up.
The ministry official did not detail whether there had been fatalities in Chah Ab, a rural district bordering Tajikistan, nor when the violence erupted.