PUL-I-KHUMRI (SW) – At least 16 security forces got killed in the Taliban’s overnight assaults in Baghlan, Balkh and Badakhshan provinces, officials said on Tuesday.
Nooria Hamidi, a representative of the people of Baghlan in the Wolesi Jirga (lower house), told Salam Watandar that eight policemen had been killed as a result of Taliban attacks on police stations in the center of Dahan-e-Ghorri district. According to her, in these Taliban attacks that started last night and continued until this morning, 9 policemen were wounded and four armored vehicles destroyed.
Criticizing Baghlan security and local officials and the lack of military equipment, Nooria said if no reinforcements was sent, the area would fall to the Taliban.
Mohammad Qasim Andar, the district governor, confirmed the Taliban attacks and killing of the security forces in the district.
Via a statement posted online, the Taliban claimed that eight policemen had been killed and nine others wounded in the group’s attacks on police checkpoints in the district.
The district is located a few kilometers from Pul-e-Khumri city, the capital of Baghlan province. Only eight villages in the district are under the control of the government and more than 100 other villages are under Taliban control. More than 30 government forces have been killed and wounded in clashes with the Taliban in the district since the beginning of this year.
In Balkh province, Mohammad Hanif Rezaei, a spokesman for the 209th Shaheen Corps, said that last night the Taliban attacked the Sar-e-Asyab base in Chamtal district, killing five security personnel and wounding two others. According to him, 7 Taliban, including a group commander, were killed and 4 others were wounded in the clash.
The Taliban claimed in a statement that they had killed 11 government forces and captured five others in the attack.
Meanwhile, residents of the Zibak district of Badakhshan reported that three members of the security forces had been shot dead by the Taliban. The bodies of three army soldiers, who were earlier captured by the Taliban in Warduj district, were found this morning on the border between Zibak and Warduj, said the locals.
According to them, the Taliban transferred the three security forces from Warduj to Zibak district this morning and shot them.
The governor of Badakhshan has confirmed the incident. According to a news release from the Badakhshan governor’s office, the soldiers were members of the special unit of the army and had recently arrived in Badakhshan from Paktia and Kandahar provinces to spend their holidays.
The Taliban have not yet commented.
ENDS
