KABUL: A suicide attack at a celebration marking a short truce between the Afghan government and Taliban militants killed at least 19 people in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday, the day after more than 30 people were killed in a similar strike.
The latest attack happened near the headquarters of the governor, in the heart of Jalalabad, where several hundred people, including civilians, Taliban fighters and government troops, were gathered to celebrate the bilateral truce observed for the Eid period.
“It was another suicide attack as people had gathered to celebrate the truce,” Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor said in a telephone interview. He said that more than 30 people had been wounded in the attack.
Foreign media reported that Daesh had claimed responsibility for the two attacks on Saturday and Sunday.
Early in the day, it was reported that the Taliban leadership had urged the foot soldiers to withdraw from the cities and towns they had entered days back as part of the truce in the face of Saturday’s attack.
On Saturday Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani offered to extend the truce with the Taliban and showed readiness to hold discussions with the group in the presence of the foreign troops in the country.
But today the militants declared that they were not prepared for the truce, which is set to expire late on Sunday local time, to be prolonged.
Suicide blast kills 19 in Jalalabad Eid truce
Suicide blast kills 19 in Jalalabad Eid truce
- Foreign media reported that Daesh had claimed responsibility for the two attacks
In Ethiopia, Tigrayans fear return to ‘full-scale war’
- Flights have been suspended into Tigray since Thursday and local authorities reported drone strikes on goods lorries
- The international community fears the fighting could turn into an international conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea
ADDIS ABABA: Tigrayans in northern Ethiopia fear a return to all-out war amid reports that clashes were continuing between local and federal forces on Monday, barely three years after the last devastating conflict in the region.
The civil war of 2020-2022 between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces killed more than 600,000 people and a peace deal known as the Pretoria Agreement has never fully resolved the tensions.
Fighting broke out again last week in a disputed area of western Tigray called Tselemt and the Afar region to the east of Tigray.
Abel, 38, a teacher in Tigray’s second city Adigrat, said he still hadn’t recovered from the trauma of the last war and had now “entered into another round of high anxiety.”
“If war breaks out now... it could lead to an endless conflict that can even be dangerous to the larger east African region,” added Abel, whose name has been changed along with other interviewees to protect their identity.
Flights have been suspended into Tigray since Thursday and local authorities reported drone strikes on goods lorries on Saturday that killed at least one driver.
In Afar, a humanitarian worker, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said there had been air strikes on Tigrayan forces and that clashes were ongoing on Monday, with tens of thousands of people displaced.
AFP could not independently verify the claims and the government has yet to give any comment on the clashes.
In the regional capital Mekele, Nahom, 35, said many people were booking bus tickets this weekend to leave, fearing that land transport would also be restricted soon.
“My greatest fear is the latest clashes turning into full-scale war and complete siege like what happened before,” he told AFP by phone, adding that he, too, would leave if he could afford it.
Gebremedhin, a 40-year-old civil servant in the city of Axum, said banks had stopped distributing cash and there were shortages in grocery stores.
“This isn’t only a problem of lack of supplies but also hoarding by traders who fear return of conflict and siege,” he said.
The region was placed under a strict lockdown during the last war, with flights suspended, and banking and communications cut off.
The international community fears the fighting could turn into an international conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose relations have been increasingly tense in recent months.
The Ethiopian government accuses the Tigrayan authorities and Eritrea of forging closer ties.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned about... the risk of a return to a wider conflict in a region still working to rebuild and recover,” his spokesman said.
The EU said that an “immediate de-escalation is imperative to prevent a renewed conflict.”
