Four Afghan hunger strikers protesting for peace are hospitalised

Several hunger strikers who are calling for a ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban have been taken to a hospital for treatment.

The strikers, who are based in the southern city of Lashkar Gah, were part of the ongoing demonstrations that began after a March 23 car bomb killed 13 people and left dozens more wounded. 

But after their demands were not met they began a hunger strike on Thursday. 

After four hunger strikers were taken to the hospital on Friday night for treatment, organisers of the sit-in called it off after religious leaders intervened. 

"Tens of Afghan ulemas came to our protest camp. We have ended our hunger strike conditionally, and we asked the ulema to support or back us in the peace talks," Iqbal Khaibar, one of the protest organisers said.

He said the religious leaders had assured demonstrators that there would be peace talks with the Taliban.

Two of the four strikers were seen hooked up to oxygen masks and IV drips at the hospital. 

The protesters, including relatives of the March 23 car bomb attack, had planned to march 60 miles to Taliban strongholds to plead for an end to the fighting.

The Taliban told the protesters to voice their protest to the US instead. "Demand that they put an end to the ongoing war and occupation," the Taliban said in a WhatsApp message to journalists. 

"If something were to happen then responsibility will be placed squarely on your shoulders because you understand that we are at war." 

The US withdrew from the NATO Afghanistan combat mission in 2014. The Taliban has since regained control of the opium-rich Helmand region, which has been the site of fierce clashes between security forces and the group.

Much of it remains controlled or contested by the militants. 

The sit-in protest and hunger strike comes amid growing calls for the Taliban to take up President Ashraf Ghani's offer last month of peace talks. His proposal received renewed international support at a conference in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Tuesday.

The Taliban have not directly responded to the offer.