Afghan clashes intensify amid call for ceasefire

DM Monitoring

KABUL: More than 90 Afghans with majority of them Taliban militants have been killed in the militancy-battered country over the past 24 hours, officials said Tuesday.
In the latest waves of violent incidents, Taliban militants stormed security checkpoints in Qaisar district of the northern Faryab province triggering a gun battle. The insurgents fled away after leaving three bodies behind and four more injured, police said. One police constable has been killed and another injured in the fighting, police have confirmed.
Similarly, the militants attacked a security checkpoint in Deh Rawad district of the southern Uruzgan province late Monday, killing three policemen and injuring another, provincial governor Mohammad Omar Shirzad has confirmed.
Parts of Kandahar, Ghazni, Laghman, Takhar, Balkh, Faryab, Helmand, Herat and Ghor provinces have been the scene of Taliban-led militancy. Fighting has gained momentum as Afghans call upon warring sides to observe ceasefire at least in the month of Ramadan.
Rohullah Ahmadzai, the spokesman for the defense ministry, told local media that the Taliban group has instead increased violence in Ramadan. Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh Tuesday in his speech at a government meeting called on the Taliban to give up fighting.