Taliban kills 20 pro-government forces
Kabul, June 9 : Hours after announcing a ceasefire in Afghanistan on Saturday, Taliban militants killed at least 20 pro-government forces, police said.
The Taliban launched the multi-pronged offensives on security checkpoints in Kunduz province's Qala-e-Zal district, police spokesman Inamudin Rahmani told Xinhua news agency.
"Taliban rebels launched coordinated attacks on security checkpoints in Qala-e-Zal district early morning, which resulted in the death of 20 pro-government forces and injuring six others," said Rahmani.
Earlier on Saturday, the Taliban announced a ceasefire in Afghanistan during the three days of Eid-ul-Fitr when no attack will be carried out on Afghan forces.
"All mujahidin are instructed to stop all their offensive operations against the domestic opposition forces throughout the country during the first, second and third days of the Eid," read a Taliban statement.
Eid al-fitr will begin on June 14.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
