Taliban seize half of northern Afghan city

Kunduz city, capital of the province of the same name, has twice come under attack by the Taliban this year.

The spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, said another eight police were wounded in the attack in the Achin district, bordering Pakistan. The militant Islamist group rarely claims attacks with a high number of civilian casualties. Afghan forces have forced the extremists to retreat. “It looks pretty grim”.

The United Nations’ Assistance Mission to Afghanistan said all its staff had been evacuated from its Kunduz office.

“There were enough troops inside Kunduz city, but the insurgents used a few route deemed not that sensitive”, Murad told a news briefing late on Monday. “Our forces have not yet received support”, he added. Zafar Hashemi said the president was “in constant contact with the security and defense leadership to provide them with guidance”. The security forces are still battling the insurgents.

“They are saying that the situation is ‘fluid, ‘ and that they sent in reinforcements”. It is now not known if there are any American soldiers near Kunduz or whether they intend to take part in the battle. The Taliban is since believed to have regrouped and allied with other insurgents.

“The Taliban have many times in the past showed their callous disregard for human life and civilians often suffer the brunt of their attacks”.

“Once they get inside an urban area, your air assets and artillery become much less useful”, Smith said. It has a majority Pashtun population and had been a Taliban stronghold before the US invasion in 2001.

Taliban forces have seized control of half of the city, occupying government buildings and a prison.

During the attack, dozens of scared residents ran to the city’s main airport. He predicted that “the city is going to collapse to the Taliban” unless reinforcements reach Kunduz.

Though Afghan security units were backed by helicopter gunships, the Taliban managed to take over a 200-bed hospital, officials said.

Safraz had retreated to the airport, and said he was prepared to fight the Taliban with a borrowed AK-47 rifle.

Yesterday 13 people were killed and 33 wounded at a volleyball match in the eastern province of Paktika.

“The Taliban launched an attack on Kunduz city from several directions”, Kunduz provincial police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini told AFP.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid urged Kunduz residents to stay inside. You know, this is sold as being seen as the biggest breach of a provincial city in Afghanistan since the Taliban were thrown out of power.

Afghanistan’s NATO-trained police and army have been fighting armed rebels this year without the front-line help of foreign forces, which ended their combat mission in December 2014.