[Published: Monday August 20 2018]
 Taliban kidnap dozens of passengers
KABUL 20 Aug (ANA) - About 150 people are reported to have been kidnapped after Taliban militants launched an ambush on three buses in northern Afghanistan.
A Taliban spokesman said they were targeting security forces travelling on the buses, adding the civilians would be released.
It comes a day after the government offered a conditional ceasefire.
President Ashraf Ghani said it would come into effect on Monday if the Taliban accepted.
It is currently unclear what the group has decided - although it did say it would release "hundreds" of "enemy prisoners" to mark the start of the Islamic Eid al-Adha holiday.
Esmatullah Muradi, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor, said the bus passengers were taken to "an undisclosed location" after being forced from the vehicles on Monday morning.
The buses were travelling along a highway in an area under Taliban control, en route to the capital Kabul.(ANA)
FA/ANA/20 August 2018---------
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COP29/Finance