Taliban claim 55 Daesh/ISIS fighters 'surrender' in eastern Afghanistan

By S. K. Khan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - The Taliban on Saturday claimed that over 50 Daesh/ISIS militants "surrendered" in the restive eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

An official statement from the Taliban's intelligence headquarters in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, said that 55 fighters associated with the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group had laid down their guns there.

It said the head of the intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security in Nangarhar, Doctor Bashir, granted "conditional pardon" through mediation by tribal elders to these former fighters who had been carrying out destructive activities in the Kot, Spin Ghar, and Achin districts of the province.

"If anyone (among the fighters) violates (the accord) there will be strict legal actions (against them)," the statement quoted the Taliban intelligence chief as saying. The statement further said that the surrendering militants regretted their past actions and vowed to live peacefully under the Islamic Emirate.

Last week, another batch of 65 militants had surrendered in the same province that has been witnessing a spike in targeted assassinations and bomb blasts in connection with rifts between the Taliban and Daesh/ISIS.

Earlier this month, the Taliban claimed dismantling a Daesh/ISIS hideout in the capital Kabul that had been blamed for many attacks.

Days later, that the terror group claimed a massive suicide bombing in Kandahar, besides orchestrating targeted killings in Nangarhar and Parwan provinces and another major suicide bombing in a Shia community mosque in the northern Kunduz province, killing more than 100 people.