PARWAN, Afghanistan — Resistance to the Taliban is flaring up in northeastern Afghanistan, and as reports of deadly fighting increase, so are claims of war crimes against civilians.

The fighting is centered in the center and south of Panjshir Province, a traditional hotbed of ethnic Tajik resistance to the Pashtun-dominated Taliban and the last province to fall to the extremist group after it seized control of the rest of the country in August.

Residents of the southern Dara district’s Abdullah Khel Valley told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi by telephone that an influx of Taliban fighters to counter growing unrest had led to extrajudicial killings, torture, and beatings.

The violence has been attributed by some to defiance of the Taliban’s declaration that Eid al-Fitr be celebrated on May 1. Locals marked the Islamic holiday on May 2 after a prominent imam criticized the Taliban’s decision as politicized, and issued a fatwa calling for it to be celebrated in keeping with the date set by Mecca.

They also report high casualties among Taliban fighters deployed from other provinces to quell fighting led by the resurgent anti-Taliban National Resistance Front (NRF) and to round up local religious figures and other potential insurrection leaders.

“As they [the Taliban] searched for the resistance, they encountered difficulties but took a number of young men hostage,” said one resident of Abdullah Khel Valley, who declined to give his name out of fear of retribution from the Taliban.

“There are dead bodies in every corner,” said Mullah Mahad, 41, another resident of the valley. “But they [locals] don’t have the right to bury their dead.”

Anti-Taliban forces take part in military training in the Dara district in Panjshir Province in September 2021.

Another valley resident, Gul Aqa, said that clashes with the NRF resulted in heavy losses for the Taliban. “The Taliban sent more troops and military weapons to suppress the gunmen, but this time the National Resistance Front forces based in the Abdullah Khel Valley attacked the Taliban convoy,” he said.

The reported fighting has led to a war of words between the NRF and the Taliban, with the resistance group claiming in recent days that it had killed scores of Taliban fighters and taken control of large parts of the Panjshir Province’s southern Abshar and Dara districts, including the Abdullah Khel Valley.

The Taliban has denied the NRF’s claims, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid telling Radio Azadi last week that no such militant group is currently active in Afghanistan.