Afghanistan: Taliban seizes half of city of Kunduz in surprise attack

Afghanistan continues to face insecurity 14 years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.

“At least 20 dead bodies of Taliban have left behind on the ground and scores of others injured”, He also added that, but didn’t comment on the possible casualties of security forces and civilians.

Ibrahimi said that all Afghan security forces and provincial officials had pulled out of city and were lodged at an airport on the suburbs of city. The Taliban has been attempting to capture it for months after establishing control over outlying rural areas.

Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, the spokesman for Kunduz’s provincial police chief, told The Associated Press that Taliban forces have occupied a number of government buildings including a hospital and a courthouse. Hussaini denied claims that the insurgents held any government buildings.

Mahboobullah Mahboob, a member of a local council, said he and his family fled the city, also called Kunduz, shortly after 6 a.m. when militants neared their neighborhood.

The government forces were preparing a counter-offensive from the airport, according to Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi.

“Right now intensive gun battles are going on inside the city”. The Islamist were pushed out of city by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, but managed to keep control over parts of the surrounding countryside. The IS militants in Afghanistan have banned girls from school and forced young women into marriages with fighters, officials and military leaders have said.

The city´s streets were deserted as residents barricaded themselves indoors.

Hundreds of Taliban fighters have launched an attack on the strategic northern Afghan city of Kunduz. The province is also considered the breadbasket of the country, as a major producer of grain and other food.

The Taliban said they were not behind the attack. The city’s approximately 304,000 residents were living in fear, he said.

The Islamic militants hoisted their flag above the city’s main square, a Reuters correspondent said Monday.

“The mujahedeen are trying to avoid any harm to Kunduz residents”, he said on his official Twitter account, referring to Taliban fighters.

He added that the local headquarters of the National Directorate of Security, the country’s main intelligence agency, had been set on fire, and prisoners had been released from the city jail.

Afghan military helicopters were firing rockets at militants in three areas on Kunduz city’s outskirts, a police spokesman said.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said it had treated more than 100 wounded people in Kunduz since the assault began, including 36 who were “in critical condition, with severe abdominal and head injuries”.