US Hails Afghan Eid Cease-fire, Suspects IS Conducted Kabul School Bombing
Voice of America
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The United States on Monday welcomed the Taliban’s declaration of a nationwide cease-fire in Afghanistan over this week’s Eid-al-Fitr festival, reiterating Washington’s call for the Islamist insurgency and Afghan leaders to negotiate an end to the “senseless violence.”
Addressing a routine news conference, State Department spokesman Ned Price also denounced Saturday’s bombing of a girls’ school in the Afghan capital, Kabul. “The circumstances of the bombing over the weekend, they are not yet crystal clear. … There are some indications that this may have been attributable to ISIS and not the Taliban,” Price said using an acronym for Islamic State. “We’re still looking into what or who is responsible, but I would note that ISIS has been responsible for similar attacks on Shia communities in Kabul in the past,” he said.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.