FARAH: A 20-member insurgents group joined the peace process in western Farah province on Monday, taking to 100 the number of individuals renouncing the insurgency this year, an official said.
Led by Mullah Abdul Malik, the fighters surrendered in Khak-i-Safid, Pusht-i-Rud and Bala Baluk districts, the High Peace Council head for Farah said.
Amir Mohammad Ayubi told Pajhwok Afghan News the men also turned in 20 Kalashnikovs, machine guns and rocket-launchers to police.
He said the individuals had joined the reconciliation programme as result of efforts by tribal elders and influential figures.
Malik said: “I have joined the peace process after realising that Taliban operations are illegal.” The men expressed their readiness to join the national security forces and protecting their areas.
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KABUL: Two Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers have been killed and as many injured in separate incidents, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.
The fatalities took place in the Dilaram district of Nimroz province late on Sunday, a statement from the ministry said. Two soldiers were wounded as a result of bomb explosion in Zabul and Helmand provinces.
Without giving any information about the death of the soldiers, the ministry added the wounded were taken to hospital in a stable condition.
Meanwhile, some weapons and explosives were seized in Tirinkot, the capital of central Uruzgan province and in the Nawbahar district of Zabul.
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KABUL: Kabul police seized 138 kilograms of heroin and more than 20 kg of chemicals, detaining 28 people on charges of selling and smuggling drugs, an official said on Monday.
The heroin was recovered from a vehicle in Pul-i-Charkhi area of while three smugglers were arrested in Kabul on Sunday evening, the deputy head of the counter-narcotics department said.
Gen. Baz Muhammad Ahmadi told a press conference 22 drug sellers were apprehended over the past week. “Separately, police arrested two men with more than 4,000 kg of chemicals used in heroin making in the Arghandi area.”
More than 16,000 kg of chemicals were recovered in different areas of the city last week, he said.
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KABUL: More than 300 tonnes of expired and low-quality medicines were destroyed in Kabul, an official said on Monday.
The medicines had been collected from shops and importers during the ongoing solar year, said Dr. Syed Ibrahim Kamil, head of the law-monitoring department at the Ministry of Public Health.
He said 17 pharmacies had been suspended in connection with selling expired drugs, and the Faisal Kashif Pharmaceutical Company referred to the Attorney General Office.
Some medical store owners were fined from 5,000 afghanis ($101.23) to 50,000 afghanis, and their shops closed for a week to six months. Kamil said the total amount of fines reached more than a million afghanis this year.
He recalled 400 tonnes of expired and low-quality medicines were collected in the capital and provinces last year, when nine stores were sealed.
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NANGARHAR: Two important drug smugglers were detained along with several associates during an operation by foreign soldiers in eastern Nangarhar province, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said on Monday.
A statement from the NATO-led force said the smugglers, Banda Gul and Socha Gul, were arrested along with eight accomplices in the Shinwari district on late Friday.
The alliance stopped short of giving details about the location of the operation. It said the detainees were under investigation.
Foreign soldiers conducted the operation in the Khari Farm area of Ghanikhel district and arrested 10 people, Haji Zalmay, the town’s administrative chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
ISAF released four of the detainees early on Monday, the official explained, hoping the remaining individuals would be set free soon.
Elsewhere, Afghan security personnel arrested three suspected Pakistani insurgents in the Shegal district of eastern Kunar province, said the provincial police chief.
Brig. Gen. Ewaz Mohammad Nazari said the detainees, residents of the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been held with four weapons used by the Pakistan Army.
Separately, two militants were apprehended in the Syedabad district of central Maidan Wardak province late on Sunday night, said Dr. Muslim, the town’s administrative head.
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