Fighting resumed Sunday (May 16) between Afghan government forces and the Taliban in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, after a three-day truce for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr , announced the authorities.

Clashes were reported in the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of this province which has been the scene of intense fighting since May 1, when the United States was supposed to have withdrawn its 2,500 soldiers still present there, said an army spokesman and a local official.

 “The Taliban and government forces clashed when the ceasefire ended,” said Attaullah Afghan, head of the Helmand Provincial Council.

He claimed that the Taliban had attacked several checkpoints around the provincial capital and in other districts.

An Afghan army spokesperson in the south confirmed that fighting has resumed.

The Taliban, imitated by the Afghan government, announced last Monday a three-day ceasefire for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.

The truce was announced after a resurgence of violence since May 1, when the Americans began to officially withdraw their last troops still present in the country.

On May 8, more than 50 people were killed and a hundred others injured in a Shiite district of the capital by the explosion of bombs placed in front of a girls' school.

It was the deadliest attack in a year. 

Site of a deadly attack on a school in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood, May 8, 2021, in Kabul REUTERS - STRINGER

The authorities had accused the Taliban but they denied having been the perpetrators.

The EI group claims an attack

Another attack which left at least 12 dead in a mosque in the suburbs of Kabul on the second day of the provisional ceasefire on Friday, was claimed on Sunday by the Islamic State (IS) group, according to the American agency SITE, specialized in monitoring the online activity of jihadist groups.

With AFP

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