Afghanistan: Taliban overrun 2 districts

After losing ground in their bastion in the southern Helmand province, the Taliban has taken intense retaliation in northern Afghanistan, overrunning two districts after bloody clashes.


Afghan officials confirmed on Sunday that the Ghor province’s Taywara district and the Faryab province’s Kohistan district had fallen to the Taliban.

Ghulam Naser Khazeh, the governor of Ghor, told Anadolu Agency that Taywara fell when hundreds of insurgents attacked the district from various directions on Saturday night, but gave no casualty figures.

Iqbal Nizami, spokesman for the provincial police headquarters, confirmed that five members of the Afghan National Security Forces died in clashes with the militants while five were wounded.

“Enemies sustained heavy losses of men and materials, and a large cache of arms and ammunition has been confiscated,” the Taliban said in a message about their advance in Taywara.

On the other front, the Taliban apparently faced little resistance to capturing the Kohistan district in the Faryab province bordering Turkmenistan in the wee hours on Sunday. According to Abdul Karim Youresh, spokesman for the provincial police headquarters, security forces took a strategic retreat to the nearby village of Khair Abad. He vowed a clean-up operation to recapture the district.
 [aa.com.tr]
23/7/17