8 Afghan soldiers die as troops fight off Taleban attack
KUNDUZ: Eight Afghan soldiers were killed on Tuesday while repelling a fierce Taleban attack on Kunduz, a strategic city in northern Afghanistan that had briefly fallen to the militants twice in the past, officials said. In a separate incident north of the capital Kabul, gunmen opened fire on worshippers offering evening prayers at a mosque, killing at least seven people and wounding 12, police said.
Fighting erupted during the night in Kunduz as Taleban fighters attacked several government posts on the outskirts of the city at around 1:00 am Tuesday, a defense ministry statement said. “With the support of air force their attack was repelled,” it said, adding the fighting lasted for several hours. Defense Minister Assadullah Khalid, who visited Kunduz later on Tuesday, said the Taleban had “suffered big losses”. “Unfortunately, we have also lost eight brave soldiers,” he told reporters.
The insurgents managed to briefly capture an Afghan army post during Tuesday’s fighting but it was quickly retaken by security forces, army spokesman Hadi Jamal told AFP. Three civilians were also killed and 55 others wounded in the overall violence that rocked the city, Kunduz provincial health director Ehsanullah Afzali said. An air strike also hit and partially damaged a clinic in the nearby district of Chardara but there were no reports of casualties, he added. Both the Taleban and Afghan forces have clashed repeatedly in rural areas in recent months, but an attempt to enter a city as large as Kunduz is seen as a serious escalation.
Attack on mosque Meanwhile, gunmen stormed a mosque in Khelalzai village in the province of Parwan, north of Kabul, and opened fire on worshippers offering evening prayers. “Seven people have been killed and 12 wounded. The gunmen have fled the area,” Parwan police chief Haroon Mubarez told AFP. The ministry of interior confirmed the incident but provided a slightly higher death toll, saying eight had been killed. The latest violence follows a declaration by President Ashraf Ghani last week to resume offensive strikes against the insurgents following a string of brutal attacks. The Taleban responded by vowing to increase assaults against Afghan security forces. The defense ministry said 40 Taleban fighters were killed and 50 others wounded in the Kunduz assault.
Afghan officials and the Taleban frequently exaggerate claims of casualties. The Taleban briefly captured Kunduz, a strategic city not far from the Tajikistan border, twice before - in September 2015 and again a year later. An attempt last year failed. During the fight for the city in 2015 US air strikes destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, killing 42 people. The latest attack on the city came a day after the Taleban killed at least seven Afghan intelligence personnel with a car bomb in the eastern province of Ghazni. And last week, gunmen stormed a maternity hospital in Kabul killing 24, including mothers and infants. —AFP