5 killed, 9 injured in Taliban attack in N. Afghanistan

Five militants were killed and nine others injured as a 200-strong group of militants intending to surrender to the authorities came under attack in northern Afghanistan's Jawzjan province on Wednesday, police said.

"Some 200 Taliban militants were going to lay down arms and surrender to the government in Jawzjan province was ambushed by a group of Taliban in Qush Tepa district this morning, as a result five were killed and nine others injured," a police officer Abdul Manan Raufi told reporters.

A local former Taliban commander Qari Alutfullah who wanted to lay down arms is among those killed in the attack, said the officer.

Meanwhile, Raufi said another 200-member group of Taliban militants who were involved in militancy over the past couple of years have laid down arms and surrendered to the government in Jawzjan province Wednesday afternoon.

"Up to 200 insurgents gave up fighting and joined the government-backed peace process in the provincial capital of Sheberghan on Wednesday and a ceremony to welcome them is underway, " Raufi said.

"The former rebels were active in Darzab and Qush Tepa districts over the past couple of years," the official said.

Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani, police chief of the Jawzjan province, welcomed the former militants' decision to lay down arms, saying the step would encourage other Taliban militants to follow the step and help the government to stabilize security across the country.

According to the police officer, the Afghan first Vice- President Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, is presently visiting the northern provinces of Jawzjan and the neighboring Faryab and Sari Pul provinces to encourage Taliban militants to give up fighting and resume the normal life.

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