Taliban militants overrun district in northeastern Afghanistan

Members of the Taliban militant group have taken control of a district in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Takhar.

Atiq Haideri, the provincial deputy police chief, said Taliban militants overran Darqad district on Wednesday morning following heavy clashes with Afghan security forces.

He confirmed the withdrawal of all security personnel from Darqad and the district’s fall into Taliban hands, without providing any information on potential casualties among security forces.

“We have retreated tactically. We can retake the town whenever we want,” Haideri claimed.

Tahir Khan, a local resident, said Taliban terrorists captured Darqad without any resistance from Afghan security forces, adding, “Many parts of Darqad are now under Taliban’s control.”

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the militants have killed a dozen Afghan policemen in the battle for the district. He said two Taliban militants were also killed in the battle for Darqad.

Afghan forces kill 63 Taliban militants

Meanwhile, Afghan army troopers backed by security forces have killed more than 60 Taliban militants and wounded nearly three dozen others in a series of clean-up operations across the strife-torn country over the past 24 hours.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that 63 militants were killed and nine others injured in a series of operations carried out in the provinces of Badakhshan, Faryab, Ghazni, Helmand, Herat, Jowzjan, Kandahar, Kapisa, Kunduz, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Nangarhar, Paktia, Takhar, Urozgan and Zabul.

The statement added that eight Taliban members were also arrested during the offensives, without providing any information about potential casualties among soldiers and security forces.

Afghan soldiers also confiscated light and heavy weaponry and defused several rounds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

More than 140 Taliban terrorists slain in Ghormach

Additionally, Sayed Agha Andarabi, the police chief for Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Faryab, said on Wednesday that more than 140 Taliban extremists were killed in an operation against the terrorist group in the Ghormach district of the province.

He added that Afghan government forces also rescued the policemen that had been besieged inside a military base in the area, situated about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of the capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity 14 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.

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