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Fighting resumes in southern Afghanistan as ceasefire ends: officials
The two sides clashed on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, which had seen intense fighting since May 1 after the US military began its final withdrawal from Afghanistan, an Afghan military spokesman and a local official said.
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In this file photo taken on May 05, 2021 Afghan security forces stand near an armoured vehicle during ongoing fighting between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in the Busharan area on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital city of Helmand province. The US military has deployed more heavy bombers and fighter jets to protect withdrawing American and coalition troops from Afghanistan, which have so far sustained no direct attacks, the Pentagon said May 6, 2021. (AFP/Sifatullah Zahidi)
F
ighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces resumed Sunday in the restive southern province of Helmand, officials said, ending a three-day ceasefire agreed by the warring sides to mark Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The two sides clashed on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, which had seen intense fighting since May 1 after the US military began its final withdrawal from Afghanistan, an Afghan military spokesman and a local official said.
"The Taliban and government forces in Helmand clashed as the ceasefire ended," Attaullah Afghan, head of the Helmand provincial council, told AFP.
Meanwhile, the jihadist Islamic State claimed it carried out this week's attack on a mosque on the outskirts of the Afghan capital that left 12 worshippers dead, SITE Intelligence Group reported.
The explosion happened inside a mosque in Shakar Darah district of Kabul province during Friday prayers and shattered the relative calm of a three-day ceasefire agreed between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
IS said its fighters had placed an explosive device inside the mosque and detonated it after worshippers arrived to offer prayers on the second day of the Eid al-Fitr holidays, the US monitor of jihadist groups said late Saturday.
The bombing killed the imam of the mosque, who was leading the prayers.
Friday was also the second day of a three-day ceasefire agreed by the Taliban and the government to mark Eid al-Fitr.
The ceasefire ended late on Saturday and so far no fighting between the two warring sides has been reported.
The temporary truce was announced after soaring violence since May 1, when the US military began formally withdrawing its last remaining troops from the country.
A series of blasts outside a girls' school in Kabul last week killed more than 50 people and wounded scores, most of them female students.
No group has so far claimed the attack, one of the deadliest in recent years.
In recent weeks, fighting between the Taliban and government forces had surged across several provinces before the ceasefire was agreed, including in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.
