PARUN (SW) – A number of Badakhshan residents staged a protest demonstration against the killing of five security forces in a Taliban onslaught.
Carrying bodies of the slain security forces in Faizabad, they said that the Taliban's attack on security checkpoints on the outskirts of Faizabad began at around midnight and continued for at least four hours. The deadly incident provoked a reaction from the families of the victims and locals.
Family members of the slain security forces and a number of residents of the area took bodies of the victims to the city of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, in protest and called on the government to do justice.
They accused security officials of not sending reinforcements or providing more facilities to the security forces on the frontline.
The protesters first transferred the bodies of security forces to the city of Faizabad, and then to the army barracks. The families of the victims said their aim is to urge the government to pay more attention to the country's military.
Waliullah, a family member of one of the dead soldiers, said the number of troops stationed on the defensive lines in the area was very small, and that the Taliban's extensive offensive had resulted in heavy casualties.
Meanwhile, a military soldier in Badakhshan said that the Taliban fired hundreds of bullets at once during the attack, but the forces could only fire six bullets due to restrictions. According to him, there are no more than six security forces at each checkpoint.
Badakhshan police spokesman Sanaullah Rouhani also confirmed that five security forces had been killed and seven others wounded in this attack.
According to him, 14 Taliban fighters were killed and more than ten others were wounded in the clashes.
Meanwhile, the 217th Pamir Corps said in a statement that security forces had repulsed Taliban attacks on the Yaftal Bala region with ground and air strikes, killing 13 insurgents, including one of their commanders.
The Taliban have not yet commented on casualties in the Yaftal Bala region.
ENDS
