Bomber kills fighters celebrating truce

A suicide bomber blew himself up in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing 21 people and wounding another 41, most of them believed to be Taliban fighters who had gathered to celebrate a three-day ceasefire marking the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a police official said.

Nangarhar provincial Police Chief Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai said the devastating explosion came as previously unthinkable scenes of unarmed Taliban fighters celebrating Eid, often alongside Afghan security forces, played out in cities throughout the war-shattered country on Saturday.

Within hours of the explosion President Ashraf Ghani announced he would extend a nine-day ceasefire. which he had unilaterally announced last week. The ceasefire was to end at the conclusion of the Eid holiday, which follows the month-long fasting month of Ramadan.

Ghani offered no details of the extension, including how long it would be in effect. The Taliban’s leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, last week separately announced a three-day truce to mark the Eid holiday. The Taliban ceasefire took effect on Friday.

Ghani in his statement announcing the extension called on the Taliban to reply in kind. He also said that a ceasefire could be accompanied with visits to their prisoners and treatment for their fighters at hospitals in Afghanistan.

Ghani also repeated his promise that everything could be on the negotiation table, including the presence of foreign forces.

Earlier last week Taliban leader Akhundzada said he wanted direct talks with the United States before negotiating with the Afghan government. There was no immediate Taliban reply to Ghani’s extension offer.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo welcomed Ghani’s offer of an extension to the ceasefire, adding that the US ‘‘stands ready to work with the Afghan government, the Taliban, and all the people of Afghanistan to reach a peace agreement and political settlement that brings a permanent end to this war’’.

While no-one has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion in Rodat district of eastern Nangarhar province, the Islamic State affiliate, which did not sign the ceasefire, has a strong presence in the area. Previously, Isis fighters have clashed with Taliban, who have rejected their demands for a caliphate. – AP