19 militants surrender in western Afghanistan

Nineteen Taliban militants handed over their weapons and surrendered to the authorities in western Afghanistan's Herat province, the provincial governor said on Sunday. "Two groups of former insurgents renounced violence and joined the government-initiated peace and reintegration process late on Saturday," Governor Sayyed Fazlullah Wahidi told Xinhua. He said that the ex-Taliban members have brought with them firearms and explosives while they surrendered to the provincial department of National Directorate for Security, the country's intelligence agency in the province, 640 km west of national capital Kabul. They were all active in Karukh and Chishti Sharif districts, western of the provincial capital Herat city, the official noted. Taliban militants fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops have not made any comment yet