Afghanistan

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Apr 11 (NNN-ANA) – Two children were killed as a mine, left over from past wars, went off in Afghanistan’s eastern Ghazni province, the state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported, today.

A group of children found a toy-like device in the Gulzar Borjagi village of Nahoor district, yesterday afternoon, and began playing with it, but the device exploded, killing two children on the spot, the news agency added.

A similar blast claimed a child’s life and injured another in Ghazni’s neighbouring Kandahar province, a day earlier, on Sunday.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan religious scholars Saturday criticized a ban on female education, as a key Taliban minister warned clerics not to rebel against the government on the controversial issue.

Girls cannot go to school beyond sixth grade in Afghanistan, with the education ban extending to universities. Women are barred from public spaces, including parks, and most forms of employment. Last week, Afghan women were barred from working at the U.N., according to the global body, although the Taliban have yet to make a public announcement.

CHARIKAR, Afghanistan, Apr 8 (NNN-ANA) – Afghan security forces, stormed a hideout of the Daesh, in eastern Afghanistan, killing one insurgent and arresting 11 others, police said today.

Police spokesman of Afghanistan’s eastern Parwan province, Mohammad Kamran Zaid, said, security forces launched operations against the Daesh militants in Shahrak Malamen area of Police District 1 of Charikar city, capital of Parwan province, last night.

The arrested included three women and eight children, Zaid told reporters.

MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Apr 7 (NNN-ANA) – Seven members of a family lost their lives, as the roof of their house caved in today, in Afghanistan’s eastern Laghman province, provincial director for Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, Qari Khair Mohammad Ghazi, said.

According to the official, the deadly incident took place at 2:00 a.m. local time, in Alishing district, when the roof of a mud house collapsed and killed seven members of the ill-fated family.

ZARANJ, Afghanistan, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The security forces have discovered a weapon cache in Afghanistan's western Nimroz province, the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), or the country's counter-intelligence agency, said in a statement on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, the GDI personnel launched operations in parts of Nimroz province on Saturday and discovered a weapon cache containing a variety of arms and ammunition, including a Kalashnikov and 15 pistols, the statement added.

The statement didn't say if anyone had been arrested.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — A women-run radio station in Afghanistan’s northeast has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan, a Taliban official said Saturday.

Sadai Banowan, which means women’s voice in Dari, is Afghanistan’s only women-run station and started 10 years ago. It has eight staff, six of them female.

KABUL, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Afghan forces have discovered weapon caches in the southern Helmand and northern Baghlan provinces over the past couple of days, officials said Wednesday.

In the first achievement, which occurred in the southern Helmand province, the personnel of the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) or the country's counter-intelligence agency launched operations in Greshk district on Tuesday, discovering a weapon cache containing a variety of arms and ammunition, a GDI statement asserted.

SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan security forces have discovered a weapon cache and mine-making center of Daesh, or Islamic State (IS), in Shiberghan, the capital of Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province, the provincial police chief said on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, the security forces raided a house in Sakhi Abad village of Shiberghan on Saturday and discovered a variety of arms and ammunition, including a suicide vest, hand grenades and objects used in making mines and explosive devices, Shah Mohammad Ahmadi said.

KABUL, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan caretaker government has dismissed Washington's claim over the alleged stronger presence of Daesh, or Islamic State (IS), in Afghanistan as utterly fabricated.

"The statements of U.S. officials about the number of IS militants in Afghanistan are not true. Daesh militants have already been reduced in ranks and suppressed," chief spokesman of the Afghan caretaker administration Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted.

KABUL, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police arrested six people on the charge of involvement in criminal activities including murder here on Friday, a police official said on Saturday.

The arrested were also suspected of involvement in armed robbery and theft, said Fazal Hadi, a senior officer of Police District 7 in Kabul city.

According to the police, the arrested men have confessed to their crimes.

In a similar crackdown on criminals, police arrested four suspected murderers in Kabul last week.