kayhan.ir

News ID: 53895
Publish Date : 12 June 2018 - 21:29

Taliban Kill Afghan Officials as Gov’t Ceasefire Kicks In


KABUL (Dispatches) – Taliban militants killed a district governor in northern Afghanistan and kept up the pressure to seize control over some parts of Faryab province, ignoring the temporary ceasefire announced by the government that came into effect on Tuesday.
Last week Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had announced for the first time an unconditional ceasefire with the Taliban, coinciding with the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
In response, the Afghan Taliban announced a surprise three-day ceasefire over the Muslim Eid holiday in the middle of June.
The government’s eight-day ceasefire started on Tuesday and the Taliban’s three-day ceasefire will start on Friday.
The Taliban have not stopped their attacks. Insurgents killed Abdurrahman Panah, the district governor of Kohistanat district in Faryab province.
At least eight Afghan security officials have been killed in the ongoing clashes, two officials said.
Javed Bedar, spokesman for Faryab province confirmed the death of a district governor and that the district center had fallen to Taliban.
"We know that the ceasefire has been announced but we have the right to defend ourselves,” said Bedar, adding that they were seeking immediate reinforcements.
In Ghazni, a southern province, insurgents placed a Humvee vehicle car bomb near the house of a district governor on Tuesday.
Mohammad Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor in Ghazni, said the Taliban militants hit the first checkpoint of a district governor house’s compound that left five Afghan security forces dead and 26 others injured, including the district governor.
Fighting was also underway in Sar-e-Pul, a northern province where the insurgents had captured two checkpoints.
In another development, the Taliban denounced "American occupying forces” for attacking their Voice of Shariah Radio station in the central province of Ghazni, but the United States denied the charge and said Afghan air force planes had targeted a broadcasting tower.
The "Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate” will "not show restraint regarding such evil enemy actions any more”, the Taliban said of Sunday’s attack which they said involved five U.S. aircraft.
"The claimants of democracy and freedom of speech exposed their true nature and showed that they have absolutely no respect for the views, voice and media of their opposition,” the Taliban, who have hit media targets themselves in the past, said in a statement.
"They only use the slogans of ‘freedom of speech’ to force their own views, culture and colonial agendas on foreign nations.”

Afghan security personnel keep watch at the site of an attack by Taliban militants on a government compound in the Khwaja Omari district in the southeastern province of Ghazni, April 12, 2018.