Taliban kill 14 Afghanistan troops hours after agreeing to ‘ceasefire’

KABUL: The Taliban targeted a pro-government militia compound in northern Afghanistan before dawn on Monday, killing 14 members of the Afghan security forces, a local official said. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack came even as Taliban officials told the Associated Press and other media outlets just hours earlier that a temporary, nationwide ceasefire has been agreed upon among their council leaders.It wasn’t clear when the ceasefire would go into effect. However, an AFP report claimed that the Taliban had denied agreeing to any ceasefire.“In the past few days, some media have been releasing untrue reports about a ceasefire... The fact is that, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no ceasefire plans,” the Taliban said, after multiple media reports, including a story in the Wall Street Journal, suggested the group was on the verge of announcing some type of temporary truce.
Of the 14 fatalities in the predawn attack in Jawzjan province, 13 were members of a pro-government militia and one was a policeman, said Abdul Maroof Azer, the governor’s spokesman.
Five other militiamen were wounded and two are missing, according to Azer. He said reinforcements later managed to reach the area and that the compound is now firmly back under government control. Meanwhile, the US military in its daily report of overnight military operations with Afghan forces said that 30 Taliban fighter were killed across the country and several other insurgents detained.
The Taliban have intensified their attacks in northern Afghanistan in recent days. They targeted a local militiamen compound in northern Takhar province on Sunday, killing at least 17 Afghan militiamen. On Friday, at least 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack on a checkpoint in southern Helmand province.
Last Monday, an American soldier was killed in combat in northern Kunduz province. The Taliban claimed they were behind a fatal roadside bombing that targeted American and Afghan forces there. Also last week, a Taliban attack on a checkpoint killed at least seven Afghan army soldiers in northern Balkh province. Another six Afghan troops were killed in the same province Thursday in an attack on an army base.
The Taliban today control or hold sway over half of the country and, along with IS, stage near-daily attacks targeting Afghan and US forces and Afghan government officials. Scores of civilians die in the cross-fire. The insurgents are at their strongest point in the 18-year war, America's longest conflict. A ceasefire had been demanded by Washington before any peace agreement could be signed. A peace deal would allow the US to bring home its troops from Afghanistan and end its 18-year military engagement there, America’s longest. The White House said it would have no comment on the ceasefire reports. The US wants any peace deal to include a promise from the Taliban that Afghanistan would not be used as a base by terrorist groups.