14 militants lay down arms in Afghanistan

KABUL - Fourteen Taliban militants laid down their arms and joined the government-initiated peace process in Afghanistan’s Herat province, a media report said Sunday.

“A group of 14 Taliban fighters under Mullah Taza Gul handed over their weapons and joined the peace process Saturday,” Xinhua quoted a statement of the National Security Directorate as saying.

These militants were active in Shindand district, the statement said.

Their joining the peace process took place in the wake of the National Consultative Peace Jirga convened by the government in Kabul early this month, the report said.

This is the second militia group that joined the government over the past two weeks. Another group of 30 fighters renounced militancy and joined the peace process in Herat province.