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As the summer fighting season approaches, the scale of war and violence continues to rise in Afghanistan. The latest figures show that at least 20 members of the Afghan security forces were killed and wounded in the past 24 hours in five provinces of the country.
The casualties were reported in Ghazni, Daikundi, Badakhshan, Khost and Balkh provinces.
A splinter group of former Maoist rebels has agreed to abandon violence and enter the political mainstream under a deal signed with Nepal’s Communist government on Thursday, a joint statement said.
Under the deal, the government agreed to lift a ban on the group, which resumed fighting after the main rebel group signed a peace deal in 2006 to end a decade-long Maoist insurgency in which more than 17,000 people were killed.
Interior Minister, Mohammad Massoud Andarabi said that top Taliban commanders were among the 600 militants killed by the Afghan security forces within the past two and a half months in southern Kandahar province.
Minister Andarabi and Defense Deputy Minister Shah Mahmood Miakhil visited Kandahar on Sunday to praise the Afghan security forces for their unflinching fight against the militants.
The Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has accused the armed forces of an attempted coup against his government after top military officers signed a letter calling him to resign.
Tensions between Pashinyan and the military erupted into open conflict on Thursday as the chief of the armed forces general staff, Onik Gasparyan, and other senior commanders accused the prime minister of bringing Armenia to “the brink of collapse”.
A local aid provider helping to transport goods to the displaced Karen villagers said help to support basic living such as food and clothing had reached Kyauk Gyi Town in Pegu Division, but the Burma Army refused to issue travel permission for the transportation.
The aid worker told Karen News it is impossible to get the assistance through as roads to the community have been blocked. The aid worker confirmed donations had reached the current location a month ago and most of the assistance had come from Yangon, Pathein and Pegu.