TALUQAN, Dec 02 (DNA): A major commander of an illegal armed group after two days of resistance surrendered himself to security forces in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province on Sunday, provincial police spokesman Abdul Khalil Asir said.

“At last, the warlord Nawed, who was the commander of more than 100 illegal armed people has bowed to security forces’ pressure and surrendered himself along with six of his armed men to police here Sunday morning,” Khalil told Xinhua.

Takhar police chief Abdul Rashid Rashid told media that Nawed was accused of killing people, robbery, rape and grabbing lands, among others, and he was arrested by police in provincial capital Taluqan city on Sunday morning and shifted to Kunduz city for investigation.

Nawed was a strong warlord in Takhar’s neighboring Kunduz province over the past nearly two years, with more than 150 armed men fighting for him, according to locals.

The security forces had launched operations at least twice in a year but failed to arrest him, according to villagers in Khan Abad district where Nawed was active.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has urged the illegal armed groups to surrender to government or to face the music.

Numerous illegal armed groups reportedly exist in the conflict-battered Afghanistan, creating law and order problems. DNA

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