Some 18 members of Taliban militant group have renounced violence and surrendered in Afghanistan’s northern province of Badakhshan, an army source said on Tuesday.

“A total of 18 armed opponents denounced hostility and surrendered in Tagab district, Badakhshan province late Monday,” Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, spokesman of army’s Division 20 Pamir based in the northern region, told Xinhua.

Among the surrendered was a local commander of Taliban named Qari Mehrab and the former insurgents also handed over 13 rounds of weapons to military authorities, the source added.

With the insurgents’ surrender, peace and stability would be further strengthened in several parts of the province, 315 km northeast of Afghan capital of Kabul, Karimi noted.

More than 10,000 Taliban militants have laid down arms and joined the government-backed peace and reconciliation process since mid-2010 when the government launched the initiative, according to officials, but the claim has been rejected by the armed outfit as “baseless.”

xinhuanet.com

Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said at Monday’s Council of Ministers meeting that the Taliban’s leadership has suffered a major blow during recent special military operations conducted by Afghan security forces.

He said according to the National Security Council’s order, security forces have focused on eliminating key and operational safe havens of militants.

“The Taliban’s leadership in Afghanistan has suffered a major blow in special operations in recent weeks,” he said.

He added: “The security forces will be in a better situation in the next year because they will focus on basic and main centers from where the Taliban are organizing their subversive activities.”

Meanwhile, a number of military analysts said they believe that next year will be the toughest year yet for Afghan forces if the challenges and gaps are not addressed.

“The security forces should be trained to thwart the new techniques used by terrorists against them,” said Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, former minister of interior.

This comes after the ministries of Defense Interior on Sunday said they have identified Taliban’s strategic operating centers and will target these facilities in the upcoming winter.

The ministries said the second Shafaq Operation is already underway to eliminate insurgents in insecure regions.

tolonews.com

Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan General John Nicholson said Haqqani Network continues to pose ‘greatest’ threat to the US troops in Afghanistan, adding that the terror outfit remains America’s principal concern.

“The Haqqanis still pose the greatest threat to Americans and to our coalition partners and to the Afghans”, he told reporters during a news conference on Saturday.

He said it was worth remembering that the Haqqanis have five American citizens as hostage right now, adding that the group remains a principal concern for the US.

“They do enjoy sanctuary inside Pakistan,” Nicholson said during a Pentagon news conference. Nicholson said he was looking forward to meeting the new Pakistani Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. He said he would meet him upon his return to the region next week.

“There are many areas of mutual cooperation with the Pakistanis with respect to the border, our joint efforts against terrorism and so forth. So, we’re looking forward to working closely with them”, he said.

Nicholson said the Afghan security forces have a hold on approximately 64 per cent of the population. This is down slightly from his 68 per cent that he talked about in September.

“The decrease has not meant more control to the Taliban. We see them still holding less than 10 per cent of the population. More of the country, slightly more is now contested. They still hold roughly two-third of the population. The enemy holds less than 10 per cent and the balance is contested,” he said.

Nicholson said since the start of the Taliban’s campaign in April, the Afghan security forces have prevented them from accomplishing their strategic objectives. “They have been unable to mass because of airpower, both Afghan and coalition airpower, and therefore they resorted to small-scale attacks on checkpoints around cities in attempts to isolate the cities and create panic,” he said.

Expressing concern over the stability of the Afghan government going forward, he said his message to Afghan partners and members of the political opposition, was that the US respects their political process.

“Second concern would be the malign influence of external actors and particularly Pakistan, Russia, and Iran. We are concerned about the external enablement of the insurgent or terrorist groups inside Afghanistan, in particular where they enjoy sanctuary or support from outside governments,” Nicholson said.

pakistantoday.com.pk

An Afghan police official says that Taliban militants have killed 23 civilians in Kandahar Province in the last 48 hours.

Gen. Abdul Raziq said Friday that the killings took place in different areas of the Nash district. He did not provide further details.

Raziq said that around 29 Taliban fighters and six members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in ongoing battles in the district in recent days.

ap.org

Police general says tighter security measures to be expected as he presents 2 suspected of attack near US embassy

Authorities have raised the terror alert level in major cities nationwide as two suspected Daesh-linked militants were paraded before the media Thursday for a foiled bomb attack near the U.S embassy in Manila.

The raise comes after the military finally drove a Daesh-affiliated group whom the men have been linked to from a southern town after a week of intense fighting.

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa told reporters in the capital Thursday that tighter security measures should be anticipated as he presented the two suspects.

“Strong checkpoints should be expected… raids on suspected terrorist personalities and areas where they may hide,” he added.

ABS-CBN reported Dela Rosa as saying that the duo were part of an alliance of terror groups that include the Maute group, a Daesh-affiliate the government has been battling for seven days in the south.

He added that the suspects had confessed to planning the attack on Manila’s Roxas Boulevard to secure recognition and funding from Daesh, while diverting state forces from their ongoing offensive against Maute in Lanao Del Sur.

On Monday, police safely detonated an improvised explosive device the men are suspected of planting in a trash can meters from the embassy.

“Their motive was to loosen the operations against the Maute group,” Dela Rosa underlined.

Analysts have long linked both Maute and the Abu Sayyaf to Daesh, but on Monday the Philippines president officially acknowledged the relationship for the first time.

GMA News reported Col. Roseller Murillo of the 103rd Army Brigade as saying Thursday that troops have now driven the group from Lanao del Sur’s Butig town, where they had been holed up since Friday after seizing a building, a high school and a mosque, and hanging Daesh flags from buildings and houses.

In the weeklong operation to clear the area, 62 members of the group died and dozens of government troops were injured.

Murillo said that residents were still not allowed back in the area — which Maute also occupied earlier this year — as it had left booby-traps and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) behind.

He added that the military is now mulling permanent military deployment in Lanao del Sur to keep the group out.

The Abu Sayyaf is one of two militant groups in the south to have pledged allegiance to Daesh, prompting fears during a stall of a peace process between the government and the country’s one-time largest Moro rebel front that it could make inroads in a region torn by decades of armed conflict.

aa.com.tr/

Officials in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarar province say so-called Islamic State is trying to imprint a lasting legacy on children in the region through an increasing network of schools.

Authorities say IS runs at least 25 seminaries in four districts of the province where children are taught military ideology and how to prepare for suicide attacks.

“Madrassas (religious seminaries) that were built by local people are now being used by IS for militant activities,” Abdul Zahir Haqqani, director of religious affairs in Nangarhar, told VOA’s Afghan service. “They use them as military centers where they teach militancy, conduct military trainings, and plan their activities,” he said.

Children of IS fighters make up the majority of pupils, but some local children also attend the IS-run schools, officials say.

Residents say they are alarmed by IS’s expertise in teaching terror to children and are asking for local and government intervention.

“The madrassas in the areas remain under IS’s control where it trains its fighters,” Ezzatullah, a local resident in the Dehbala district told VOA.

“They used to be under the government but not anymore,” said Ezzatullah, who like many Afghans uses a single name. “They teach how to shoot a Kalashnikov, a PK machine gun, and RPG (rocket-propelled grenade.)”

Provincial leaders say they are preparing an assault against IS to rid them from the schools.

“IS and other militant groups always try to use Islamic centers as their bases where they not only provide training, but also use them for other terror activities,” provincial government spokesperson Attaullah Khogyani told VOA’s Afghan service.

“We will continue our efforts to clear the Islamic centers of IS presence without causing damage to the centers,” he said.

IS launched its operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region in early 2015 after establishing bases in remote eastern border areas of Afghanistan. The group calls Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Iran its so-called Islamic State of Khorasan Province, and allegedly takes orders from leaders in Syria.

In Nangarhar, the fight against IS has at times involved a varied combination of local militias, provincial police, Afghan forces, Taliban fighters and U.S. drone strikes.

IS is also using mosques as military centers. According to Haqqani, the group has turned at least 60 mosques in various districts of Nangarhar into military training centers. Dozens of mosque imams whom IS deemed as repugnant to its extremist ideology have been killed by IS militants.

Experts say the indoctrination of children by IS will likely have a chilling reverberation for years to come, especially in a country long-hit by extremism and militancy.

“The only thing worse than a society falling prey to the extremist ideologies of terror is when society’s children succumbs to the same thing,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. “And that’s precisely what we have to worry about here amid this news.”

voanews.com

The loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group suffered heavy casualties during the ongoing operations in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The provincial police commandment said the militants suffered casualties during the operations in Pacher Agam district as the Afghan forces raided the hideouts of the terror group in Kargar Khel, Azar Khel, and Musa Khel areas.

The provincial security officials further added that the dead bodies of at least 8 of the militants were left in the area besides several weapons were confiscated by the Afghan forces.

This comes as the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said Tuesday at least 25 loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed during the joint military operations of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said “Afghan National Defense and Security Forces launched a joint clearance operation in the Pachiragam district of eastern Nangarhar province.”

The statement further added “As a result of this joint operation, 21 Daesh terrorists were killed and 11 other Daesh terrorists were wounded.”

The clearance operation still continues in insecure villages of Pachiragam district, MoI said, adding that four Daesh terrorists were killed during an air raid in the Ghazi Khil village, Pachiragam district of eastern Nangarhar province.

The loyalists of the terror group have not commented regarding the report so far.

khaama.com

The Taliban militants executed at least two including a woman in North of Afghanistan

Local officials in northern Jawzjan province said the two individuals were executed in Aqcha district.

Provincial police chief Abdul Hafiz Khashi said the militants stormed into the house of the victim and murdered the two individuals including the woman.

He said the militants managed to flee the area after killing the couple. The latest incident involving the murder of the couple in Jawzjan comes as there has been there has been there has been a sharp rise in violence against women in the country.

A young girl in Kabul was shot by me of her relatives in Kabul last week.

At least three women were shot dead by unknown gunmen who were riding a motorcycle in western Herat province of Afghanistan around two weeks ago.

The officials said the main motive behind the murder is not clear and search operation is underway to arrest the perpetrators.

Earlier, a woman shot by her in-law’s family after she attempted to elope with her love in Ghor province of Afghanistan. Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report so far.

khaama.com

The Philippines military dropped bombs from planes and rained artillery shells on southern rebels today, the third day of a siege of militants sympathetic to Islamic State, during which 35 guerrillas have been killed, the army said

express.co.uk