Taliban capture key Afghanistan district

KABUL:The Taliban captured a key district centre in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and US troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

The British, who took over southern Helmand in 2006, were headquartered at Camp Sebastian, which at its peak was the centre for 137 bases. Most of Britain’s more than 400 military deaths occurred in Helmand.

Since the withdrawal of foreign NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, US-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin centre on Thursday. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to Associated Press over phone, Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege, only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a fullscale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.