Fighting continues in Afghanistan despite cease-fire

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - Taliban have carried out multiple deadly attacks in at least four Afghan provinces on the first day of the cease-fire that was announced by the government, officials and local media said on Tuesday.

In northern Faryab province, Taliban killed a district governor and ‘scores’ of security personnel during coordinated assaults on check posts in Kohistan district, provincial administration spokesman Ahmad Javaid told Anadolu Agency.

Kohistan is a restive district in this province bordering Uzbekistan.

According to Salam Afghanistan radio, more than 30 members of the Afghan Local Police are missing while three soldiers were killed when a group of Taliban fighters stormed check posts late on Monday in the Sayad district of northern Sar-i-Pul province.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yosuf Ahmadi said "dozens" of Afghan security personnel had been killed and wounded; four others were detained while three pickup trucks and sizeable amounts of arms and equipment were seized in the attacks in Sar-i-Pul; the government did not confirm the Taliban figures.

Elsewhere, the Taliban also claimed overruning the Parchman district in Farah; government officials again did not confirm the development.

Separately, at least six policemen were killed and 19 others wounded during Taliban’s suicide car-bombing aimed at district police headquarters in central Ghazni province’s Muqar district, according to a provincial council.

Ghazni province has witnessed several deadly clashes since the Taliban launched its annual spring offensives in April.

The latest attacks come after the government forces began observing the first day of unilateral cease-fire declared by Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani last week, which is supposed to last eight days starting Tuesday.