Kunar residents up in arms against militants

ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Officials said on Friday that dozens of residents of Narai district in eastern Kunar province had formed a public uprising group to flush out rebels from their area, the governor said on Friday.

The people pledged to force militants from their area and deny safe sanctuary to anti-state elements. Participants of the uprising are carrying national flags and have established security posts to keep the Taliban at bay.

Governor Shujaul Mulk Jalala told Pajhwok Afghan News hundreds of people had set up a volunteer force. “It is for the first time that people of the district have taken up arms against the rebels.”

Jalala took great pains to distance his administration from the creation of the uprising force, saying the provincial government had neither played any role in raising the group nor was assisting it.

rm/mud

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