KABUL, May 17 (NNN-XINHUA) – Fighting in Afghanistan resumed, with 31 Afghans, mostly militants, killed in the insurgency-battered Asian country yesterday, after a three-day cease-fire observed with the start of Eid al-Fitr on Thursday, to enable celebrations of the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, officials said.
Mohammad Zaman Hamdard, spokesman for provincial police in the southern Helmand province, accused the Taliban militants of violating the cease-fire, saying, the Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints on Friday, the second day of the Eid al-Fitr festival.
Hamdard said, the security forces, after the end of the three-day truce, targeted the militants from the ground and air yesterday, killing 21 militants and injuring 13 others.
In the meantime, a roadside mine, planted by militants, struck a car in Khwaja Omari district, of the south-eastern Ghazni province early yesterday, killing three civilians and injuring three others, district chief, Ahmad Zia Yaqubi told Xinhua.
Similarly, Taliban attacks on security checkpoints in Nasay district, of the northern Badakhshan province, were repulsed and the militants fled after leaving seven bodies behind, army officer, Abdul Razaq, said.
Four other militants and two security personnel were injured in the fighting, lasting hours, the officer added. A driver sustained injury, as his car ran over a mine in the Dasht-e-Padola area of PD 7 of the capital city of Kabul, police said.
Taliban-related militancy, according to the Afghan Defence Ministry, left more than 40 people dead and injured during the three-day Eid al-Fitr holidays in Kandahar, Kunduz, Ghazni, Herat, Farah, Logar and Wardak provinces, as the armed group violated the cease-fire.
Among the deadly violent incidents was a blast inside a mosque, on the outskirts of Kabul on Friday, the second day of Eid al-Fitr, which claimed 12 lives and injured 15 others. Taliban purported spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, besides condemning the attack denied the group’s involvement.
In a counter claim, Mujahid accused the government forces of breaking the cease-fire.– NNN-XINHUA
