JAWZJAN: Two militant groups joined the government’s peace process in northern Jawzjan province, officials said on Wednesday.
Operating in Faizabad district, the fighters surrendered as a result of efforts by their group leaders, Mullah Borhan and Mullah Mohammad Nabi.
Faqir Mohammad, the deputy governor, told Pajhwok Afghan News the ex-rebels had turned five Kalashnikovs, a rocket-propelled grenade, a mortar, a heavy machinegun and one carbine rifle.
The groups were active against the government in Faizabad, said Abdul Razzaq, the district chief.
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–Tamkin
KABUL on Wednesday, the alliance said.
The deaths were announced in a brief statement from the multinational force that neither disclosed the victims’ nationalities nor the exact locations.
With the latest fatalities, the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan so far in 2011 has increased to 487. Americans have borne the brunt of the casualties.
–Pajhwok Report
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KANDAHAR: A mine planter was killed and six militants were detained in separate incidents in southern Kandahar province, officials said on Wednesday.
The mine planter was killed when the bomb he was carrying went off prematurely in the Sanzari area of Zherai district, the governor’s office said in a statement.
Without providing the exact time of the blast, the statement said the insurgent had placed the explosives beneath grass in a cart in the Kaniyali village of Sanzari area. His body and a weapon were found by security personnel.
Elsewhere in the district, six Taliban fighters were detained and four of their motorbikes seized by security forces during a search operation, the governor’s house said. The Afghan-led operation was conducted late on Tuesday night.
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LOGAR: The bodies of two private security guards were found and a weapons depot discovered by police in the central province of Logar, officials said on Wednesday.
The guards were found dead on Wednesday morning in the Tangi area of Baraki Barak district, administrative head of the town, Mohammad Rahim Amin, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
A chit left on the bodies said the Taliban killed the men working for a private security firm after they defied warnings to quit their jobs, according to the district chief.
The victims — Hashmat Khan and Mohammad Talib — were from the Zazai Aryub district of southeastern Paktia province, he said.
Contact was being established with authorities in Paktia to find relatives of the guards, who were shot dead, said the governor’s spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwaish.
Meanwhile, police found a weapons dump in a ruined house during a search operation in Bazaar area of the Kharwar district of the province, said the provincial police chief, Brig. Gen. Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai.
The weapons included 25 remote-controlled mines, nine suicide vests, 40 mortar shells, 50 shells of rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), two Kalashnikovs, more than 100 metres of bomb fuse and some explosives.
The search operation was launched late Saturday under the name of Shamshad and would continue until the area was cleared of militants, Darwaish, said. No one has so far detained in connection with the depot, he added.
A representative from a local council, Sahibuddin, confirmed the discovery of the depot, saying the security personnel searched suspected houses in coordination with tribal elders and influential figures of the area.
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MAIDAN WARDAK: NATO-led troops killed five militants planting a roadside bomb in central Maidan Wardak province, an official said on Wednesday.
The incident took place late on Tuesday in the Lori area of Syedabad district, where the fighters were planting a landmine on a highway, the governor’s spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.
Shahidullah Shahid said the victims’ bodies were handed over to residents of the Sultankhel area by the Afghan National Army. Some weapons and explosives were also found at the scene.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, confirmed the incident, saying the the foreign troops had killed civilians, not the insurgents.
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NANGARHAR: A joint security force killed a man and detained six others on the charge of cooperating with insurgents in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said.
The operation was conducted in the Malalai Ghonday area situated between Khogyani and Sherzad districts late on Tuesday night, said Mirza Mohammad, the Sherzad district chief. However, he said the slain person was a civilian, named Misri Khan.
The ISAF media office in the east said some high-level Taliban commanders had been arrested during the operation, but it did not confirm the killing of anyone.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the killed and the detained people were civilians.
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