LASHKARGAH (SW) – The Taliban have attacked an electricity supply sub-station on the main Kandahar – Helmand highway, and abducted its staff, an official confirmed on Monday.
Omar Zawak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said the insurgents have also looted the substation and destroyed whatever was left of it after the attack.
Meanwhile, the interior ministry claimed to have killed at least 71 Taliban insurgents in the ongoing clashes in Helmand. Tariq Arian, the ministry spokesman said fresh counter-insurgency operations have been launched in the Nava, Nahr-e-Siraj, Naad-e-Ali districts and Lashkargah city to clear the areas of the insurgents.
Local officials reported a day earlier that the insurgents overran the fourth security district in the provincial capital.
Fresh troops have arrived in the province to push back the advancing insurgents, the Helmand governor Mohammad Yasin said on Sunday amid fierce clashes between the security forces and the Taliban.
The fighting has forces hundreds of Helmand residents to flee for safety.
ENDS
