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IS fighters surrender in Afghanistan’s north, officials say
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Aug 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – More than 150 Islamic
State fighters surrendered in Afghanistan on Wednesday, Afghan officials
said, a move which they and the Taliban hailed as the end of the extremist
group in the north of the country.
The apparent IS capitulation comes after weeks of intense fighting between
IS and the Taliban in Jowzjan province in the north, and continuing pressure
from Afghan and US forces.
It also came as the Afghan army took over security in the eastern city of
Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province which is an IS stronghold, after a
wave of attacks mostly claimed by the group.
In Jowzjan, officials described the surrender as a turning point.
“Their fighters have surrendered in the past, but this time it is more
important because the Daesh leader and deputy surrendered with more than 150
fighters all at once,” Mohammad Hanif Rezaee, spokesman for the army’s 209
Corps in the north, told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Rezaee said 30 women and children had also handed themselves in to Afghan
authorities.
“With this, the Daesh chapter is going to be closed in the north,” he
added.
IS has a relatively small but potent presence in Afghanistan, mainly in
the eastern province of Nangarhar but more recently in Jowzjan.
The group has fought turf wars with the much larger Taliban since emerging
in Afghanistan in 2014. Estimates of their numbers in the country run as high
as around 2,000.
Until a few weeks ago there had been around 500 IS fighters in the Darzab
and Qush Tepa districts of Jowzjan, provincial governor Lutfullah Azizi has
said.
But the Taliban stepped up fighting with the group there after an IS
attack on their fighters last month killed at least 15 people, Azizi said.
The Taliban took credit for the surrender announced by Afghan officials on
Wednesday, saying it had “cleared” the north of IS fighters.
It claimed it had captured 130, wounded more than 100 and killed 153.
– Defending Jalalabad –
The development comes as the Afghan army took over security in Jalalabad,
with more checkpoints set up and special forces conducting operations a day
after militants stormed a government department in the city and killed 15
people.
Among those killed was a local employee of the International Organization
for Migration and a local staff member of the International Rescue Committee,
both foreign agencies said in statements.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but IS is widely
suspected of carrying it out.
“To provide better security for the people, the national army is leading
the security in the city,” Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of
Nangarhar province, told AFP.
The army will spearhead efforts “to contain the emergency situation” for a
week, Khogyani said. Eventually, police and soldiers “will join hands to
secure the city”, he added, but declined to give further details.
Mohammad Ali, a soldier deployed from neighbouring Kunar province, told AFP
at a checkpoint that he and his colleagues would “defend this city until the
death”.
The Taliban has not claimed a major attack in a city for weeks as it comes
under increased pressure to agree to peace talks with the Afghan government.
But IS has carried out multiple attacks in Jalalabad and the capital Kabul
in recent months, targeting everything from government ministries to a
midwife training centre.
Last month an IS suicide bomber blew himself up near Kabul international
airport, killing 23 people including AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar.
The increased attacks come as US and Afghan forces intensify ground and
air offensives against IS, and the Taliban step up their turf war with the
group.
“IS has come under intense pressure… they have lost a lot of men,” said
former general Hadi Khalid, now a military analyst.
“The only strategy that can keep them going is to attack soft targets and
that is what they have been doing recently.”
However Borhan Osman, a senior analyst with the International Crisis
Group, cautioned that IS attacks on soft targets were not necessarily the
result of recent losses on the battlefield.
“Attacking lightly defended targets has been part of IS-KP’s modus
operandi from the outset,” he told AFP.
BSS/AFP/RY/1858 hrs