Taliban: We Won't Hinder Quake Relief

Rescuers shouldn't 'hold back,' says group
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 27, 2015 7:44 AM CDT
Taliban: We Won't Hinder Quake Relief
A Pakistani girl collects household items from her home in Peshawar.   (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

With the death in Monday's earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan at more than 300 and rising, the Taliban on Tuesday issued a plea to rescuers: Don't "hold back." Relief agencies had been wary about entering Taliban-held territory, but the group promised not to interfere, reports Reuters. "And it similarly orders its mujahideen in the affected areas to lend their complete help," says a group statement. The AP has the latest death toll from the 7.5-magnitude quake at 311, with 237 in Pakistan and 74 in Afghanistan. But that's certain to rise as rescuers make their way into remote mountainous regions of the two countries. (A dozen of those killed were schoolgirls caught in a stampede.)

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