149 bus passengers saved after mass abduction by Taleban

Afghan forces have launched a lightning operation in northern Kunduz province, rescuing 149 people, including women and children, abducted by the Taleban just hours earlier.

Fighting was still under way in the area yesterday afternoon to free 21 hostages.

The operation was a boost for Afghan forces, which have struggled to contain a resurgent Taleban on battlefields across the country.

The terrorists ambushed a convoy of three buses travelling on a road in the Khan Abad district yesterday morning. They forced everyone to go with them, according to Nasrat Rahimi, spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

Mr Rahimi said after Afghan security forces freed 149 people, the insurgents were still holding 21 hostages from the buses. He added that at least seven Taliban terrorists had been killed.

The ambush came despite Afghan president Ashraf Ghani’s announcement of a conditional ceasefire with the Taleban during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-adha this week.

The Taleban has stepped up assaults in recent months, seizing entire districts across Afghanistan and regularly carrying out large-scale bombings and attacks that have killed scores of people.

Esmatullah Muradi, spokesman for the provincial governor in Kunduz, also confirmed the rescue of the hostages.

According to Mohammad Yusouf Ayubi, the head of the provincial council in Kunduz, the Taliban was probably looking for government employees or members of the security forces who usually go home for the holidays.

All the passengers on the buses were from Badakhshan and Takhar provinces and were traveling to the capital Kabul.

Ghani’s call for a truce, made during celebrations on Sunday of the 99th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence, said: “The ceasefire should be observed from both sides and its continuation and duration also depend on the Taliban’s stand.”

The leader of the Afghan Taliban, Maulvi Haibatullah Akhunzadah, said on Saturday there would be no peace in the country as long as the “foreign occupation” continues. He repeated the group’s position, which is that the country’s 17-year war can only be brought to an end through direct talks with the United States.

In a message released on the occasion of Eid al-adha and without mentioning any ceasefire, Mr Akhunzadah said the insurgents remained committed to “Islamic goals”, the sovereignty of Afghanistan and ending the war.

The government had previously announced a ceasefire with the Taliban during the Eid al-fitr holiday in June.