Two days after a deadly bombing outside a school in Kabul claimed the lives of over 60 students, the Taliban on Monday announced that they would observe a three-day ceasefire for the festival of Eid.
Mohammad Naeem, a Taliban spokesperson, said that all Mujahideen have been instructed to halt all operations “against the enemy” countrywide. “In order that the Mujahideen again provide a peaceful and secure atmosphere to our compatriots during Eid-ul-Fitr so that they may celebrate this joyous occasion with…,” he tweeted.
“…a greater peace of mind, all Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are instructed to halt all offensive operations against the enemy countrywide from the first till the third day of Eid,” he said in another tweet.
However, Naeem instructed the Mujahideen to stand ready to robustly protect and defend themselves and their territory if the ‘enemy’ conducts any assault or attack.
“The Mujahideen must not visit enemy areas nor permit entrance of enemy personnel into Mujahideen controlled areas,” he further said.
This comes after at least three explosions that took place near Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School in the west of Kabul on Saturday afternoon. As many as 63 people, all students, were killed in a Kabul school bombing and 150 more were wounded, TOLO News reported citing sources and relatives of victims.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday condemned the terrorist attack on a school in Kabul and called for a national day of mourning in wake of the incident.
Taking to Twitter, Deputy Interior Minister Sediq Sediqqi said that Ghani has asked the Taliban to abandon the killings of innocent Afghans.
“President Ghani condemns the Kabul terrorist attack with the strongest words, termed a despicable crime against humanity. Calls for a national day of mourning, and asks the Taliban to abandon the killings of innocent Afghans,” he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban has denied any involvement in the incident.
“We condemn in strongest terms the killing of civilians in Dashti Barchi, Kabul, as a result of incessant explosions and call for a neutral and transparent investigation,” another Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a tweet.
Amid the ongoing drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan, the war-torn country has seen a spike in the incidents of violence in recent weeks, leading to casualties of Afghan security forces and civilians.
Over 1,000 Taliban terrorists have been killed and wounded in several encounters with the Afghan security forces during this period in Kandahar, Helmand, Farah, Herat and Baghlan provinces, said General Yasin Zia, the Afghan Chief of Army Staff.