Taliban broaden insurgent attacks

KABUL — Afghan security forces recaptured a district headquarters in western Farah province on Monday, just hours after the Taliban militants overran police and administrative offices, killing eight officers, a spokesman said.

The development came as insurgent attacks against security forces have stepped up across Afghanistan, including in Farah province.

In Monday’s assault, the Taliban launched a multipronged attack and stormed the district headquarters in Anardara, which they were able to hold for a few hours before Afghan reinforcements arrived.

Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, says that along with the eight killed in the assault, 10 security forces were wounded.

“Right now the district headquarters and the area around it are under control of the Afghan security forces,” Rahimi said, adding that “fighting is ongoing in three different parts of the district” as Afghan forces pursue the Taliban.

Afghan forces also carried out heavy air strikes during the day in Anardara and more than 50 Taliban fighters were reported killed so far, he added.

Fared Bakhtawer, the head of the provincial council in Farah, confirmed the developments and said the Taliban have been surrounded in other parts of the district.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack shortly after it began, according to a media statement from Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman.

The Anardara attack followed a weekend assault in Bala Buluk district that killed 15 Afghan forces.