KABUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 20 people including militants, security personnel and civilians have been killed over the past 24 hours elsewhere in Afghanistan amid observing reduction in violence by the Taliban outfit in the country, officials said Tuesday.
In the latest fighting which occurred on a road linking the northern Takhar province with the neighboring Kunduz at 10:00 a.m. local time Tuesday, a policeman and a Taliban insurgent were killed and nine others including seven militants and two police sustained injuries, Takhar's provincial government spokesman Mohammad Jawad Hajari said.
According to Hajari, the clash happened after a group of Taliban militants begun checking the travelers on the road and police took action to ensure the security of the road, the official asserted.
After nearly 18 months of tough talks, the United States and the Taliban inked an agreement on Feb. 22 under which the later agreed to observe a seven-day "reduction in violence" which followed by inking peace deal between the two sides on Feb. 29.
The agreement signed in Doha has paved the way for the withdrawal of the U.S.-led coalition forces from Afghanistan and initiating intra-Afghan talks to find negotiated solution to the country's lingering crisis.
Yet another clash between the Taliban fighters and police in Eshkamish district of the northern Takhar province on Tuesday claimed the lives of two militants and wounded two insurgents and a local policeman, a local police commander Abdul Rashid has confirmed.
Armed insurgents also attacked a security checkpoint in Hasan Khil area of Mohammad Agha district in the eastern Logar province late Monday night, killing five security personnel, a provincial official Didar Lawang has asserted.
Three civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in a bomb attack in Nadir Shah Kot district of the eastern Khost province on Monday, provincial police spokesman Haidar Shah Adil has confirmed.
Unknown armed men gunned down a pro-government tribal elder in Yahya Khil district of Khost's neighboring Paktika province on Monday evening, according local officials.
At least seven militants have been confirmed dead and three police wounded elsewhere in the southern Kandahar province over the past 24 hours, deputy to provincial police chief Rahmatullah Atrafi has confirmed.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid has rejected the armed group's involvement in any clash and on his Twitter account asserted the militant outfit is committed to the peace agreement to keep on violence reduction unless the warring sides agree on ceasefire and eventually achieving peace through dialogue.
In addition to Taliban, about 20 more militant groups including al-Qaida, Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Tyeba, and Jandullah, according to officials are active in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan.
Majahid, who rejected holding official talks with the Afghan government, has said the Taliban is only ready to talk with the in-charge of prisons of "Kabul administration" about the release of 5,000 detainees.
However, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has rejected the demand, saying "no commitment has been made for the release of 5,000 prisoners" and the decision in this regard is with the government of Afghanistan.
