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Taliban to release first group of Afghan prisoners during the day

20 prisoners will be handed over to the International Committee of Red Cross

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. The Afghan radical movement Taliban (outlawed in Russia) plans to release 20 Afghan government prisoners on Sunday, who will be handed over to the International Committee of Red Cross, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Qatar office, Suhail Shaheen, said on Twitter.

"Today, 20 prisoners of the Kabul Administration [Afghan government] will be released by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan [Taliban] and handed over to ICRC in Kandahar," Shaheen wrote.

The TOLO News TV Channel reported earlier on Sunday citing Afghanistan’s National Security Council that Kabul had released the third group of Taliban supporters in accordance with a decree of President Ashraf Ghani. The first two groups walked free on Wednesday and Thursday.

On February 29, the United States and the Taliban signed a peace deal in Qatar's capital Doha. Under the agreement, the intra-Afghan talks were expected to begin as early as March 10. It was agreed though that up to 5,000 Taliban supporters and up to 1,000 people held by the radicals were to be released as part of confidence-building measures by the launch of intra-Afghan talks.

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