Police search for 30 kidnapped

Taleban overrun 2 districts in as many days

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 23, (Agencies): Afghan police on Sunday launched a search for some 30 villagers still missing two days after a mass kidnapping blamed on Taleban militants in the southern province of Kandahar.

Seventy people were abducted Friday from their village along the main road in the south and seven of them were found dead the following day alongside the highway, from the city of Kandahar to Tarinkot in Uruzgan province.

Around 30 people have been released while 30 others remain missing, Kandahar police spokesman Zia Durrani told AFP.

It remained unclear why the villagers were seized. But some officials said they suspected the Taleban had kidnapped or killed them for suspected cooperation with the Western-backed government which the militants are striving to topple.

The insurgents have a heavy presence in Uruzgan, a poppy-growing area.

On Sunday they denied involvement, while confirming they had attacked police checkpoints in the area.

“Our mujahideen killed a number of local police and pro-government militias there, also capturing 17 suspects who were later released after interrogation. We have not killed or kidnapped any civilians,” the Taleban said in a statement.

Civilians are increasingly caught in the crosshairs of Afghanistan’s worsening conflict as the Taleban step up their annual spring offensive launched in April.

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Highways passing through insurgency-prone areas have become exceedingly dangerous, with the Taleban and other armed groups frequently kidnapping or killing travellers.

In July Taleban fighters closed a highway connecting Farah to Herat city in the west, stopping a bus and forcing 16 passengers off it. They shot at least seven of them while the remainder were taken hostage.

Elsewhere in the country, the Taleban on Sunday captured a district in the northern province of Faryab after an overnight attack that triggered hours of heavy fighting, said provincial police spokesman Abdul Karim Yourish.

He said troops had retreated two kilometres from the centre of Kohistan district. There was no word on casualties.

Overran

Local media on Sunday also reported that the Taleban had overran Taywara district in the central province of Ghor, though there was no immediate official confirmation.

There has been a surge in fighting in several northern and southern Afghan provinces in recent days, including in Helmand in the south where 16 Afghan police officers were killed by a US air strike on Friday night. The strike, the latest setback in Washington’s efforts to pacify the country, hit a compound in Gereshk district, large parts of which are under Taleban control.

Afghan troops and police are battling largely alone on the ground against the insurgency, after US-led foreign forces withdrew from most combat operations

Indian men transport goods on a three wheeled cargo bicycle along a road as

heavy monsoon rain falls in Kolkata on July 23. (AFP)

in December 2014.

Also: KABUL, Afghanistan:

Taleban fighters overran a second district headquarters in as many days on Sunday, this one in western Ghor province, the provincial police chief said.

At least eight police were killed in separate battles against Taleban militants, who have stepped up their attacks in the north and west of the country laying siege to district headquarters, said Mohammad Mustafa Moseni.

Moseni said the Taleban launched four assaults on Ghor’s Taywara district headquarters early Sunday and “we had no choice but to retreat.” He said police have taken up positions about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the district headquarters while they wait for reinforcements to launch a counterattack.

The Taleban, in a statement to the media, announced the capture of Taywara district headquarters. The statement, however, said 46 Afghan government security forces were killed. There was no way to independently verify either death toll.

In northern Faryab province’s Lawlash district two police were killed late Saturday night when Taleban using the cover of darkness to attack the district headquarters, setting fire to the police headquarters buildings, Abdul Karim Yourish, provincial police chief spokesman, said Sunday.

Government offices as well as the police headquarters were located inside the compound, he said.