Kunduz-Takhar highway hostage crisis

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Kunduz–Takhar highway hostage crisis
Part of War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
An American soldier manning a similar highway checkpoint in Sher Khan Bandar, also near Kunduz, along the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border (3 October 2011)
Location	Kunduz Province, Afghanistan
Date	31 May 2016; 7 years ago (2016-05-31)
Target	Afghan civilians
Attack type	Kidnapping hostage crisis
Deaths	33+ (six attackers killed)[1]
Injured	Unknown
Victims	~262 civilians
Perpetrators	Taliban
No. of participants	250+ Taliban militants
Motive	Possibly related to the ensuing Battle of Kunduz in October 2016

On 31 May 2016, the Taliban set up a fake military checkpoint along the Kunduz–Takhar Highway, near Arzaq Angor Bagh in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan, and deployed approximately 250 militants there after disguising them as Afghan government officials. They subsequently kidnapped between 220 and 260 civilians coming through the checkpoint and held them as hostages, prompting the assembly of a rescue effort by the Afghan Armed Forces.^[1] By 8 June, at least 12 abductees were executed and more Taliban attacks followed throughout other parts of the country. A total of 33 people were killed in the ensuing hostage crisis. The exact death toll is unknown, but it is believed that most of the hostages were released or rescued.^[2]