Afghanistan: Khanabad district reportedly under Taliban control

Taliban militants have captured a district in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province on Saturday, officials said.

As the Taliban consolidated its gains in Khan Abad, a separate group of the insurgents clashed with government troops in Ali Abad district that connects Kunduz with Baghlan and also in Dashte Archi, lying on a vital road leading to Tajikistan, officials and residents reported.

As reported on Wednesday by Tolo News, Khan Abad and Cahardara districts are now under siege by Taliban forces, with Khan Abad District Governor Hayatullah Amiri calling for reinforcements to be sent immediately.

The Taliban briefly captured northern Kunduz city in September last year, the first city to fall to the insurgents in their biggest victory in 14 years of war. Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook.

District chief Hayatullah Amiri, in a statement issued to media, said: “Taliban attacked the city from different locations, we fought them for hours but eventually retreated when the forces received no back up support”.

A spokesman for Takhar’s police force said measures were being taken there to counter any Taliban attack.

He said the Taliban also overran several troops’ security posts in the neighboring Ali Abad district.

The district is located some 25 km east of the provincial capital of Kunduz city.

Taliban fighters freed more than 600 prisoners in their attack on Kunduz city last September, among them almost 150 insurgent fighters. He says security forces are planning an operation to retake the area.

The Kunduz city has been facing a severe power cut since Thursday when several electricity towers were destroyed during the clashes.

Meanwhile, in the capital, Kabul, a soldier was killed early Saturday by a sticky bomb placed on his vehicle, Kabul police said. Airstrikes by coalition forces on the outskirts of the airport bought time for Afghan reinforcements to make their way to Kunduz.

USA and Afghan officials maintain they will not allow another urban center to be taken by militants after the battle for Kunduz. In a separate incident, in Takhar, a roadside mine blast killed five people and wounded three others early Saturday morning, according to Sonatullah Temor, Takhar provincial spokesman. Deaths from the conflict have reached their highest level since the United Nations began issuing its reports in 2009.