Taliban militants seize district in Afghanistan's Kuduz Province
Taliban militants in Afghanistan have captured the Khanabad district of the restive Kunduz Province in the northeast of the country following fierce clashes with Afghan security forces, local officials say.
A local lawmaker and some other authorities confirmed the fall of Khanabad to Taliban on Saturday while Mohammadullah Bahej, the spokesman for the provincial police chief, was cited as saying that the seizure came after the militants launched attacks on the district headquarters from multiple directions.
Bahej further stated that local and national security forces were planning an operation to recapture the district as the fighting led to the closure of the main highway connecting Kunduz to the northeastern Takhar Province.
This is while the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, also confirmed the seizure of the entire district by the militants, adding that weapons and military vehicles were also captured during the armed assault.
The fall of Khanabad came as the foreign-backed Taliban elements intensified their attacks on Kunduz and launched numerous offensives on key districts of the province during the past several months.
The militants have also attempted on several occasions to take control of the strategic Kunduz city, which was briefly seized by the group last year before being driven out in a counteroffensive by Afghan military forces.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb blast in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday struck an army vehicle in Qala-e-Zaman Khan area of the city, killing at least one person and injuries few others, according to officials cited in local press reports.
Police authorities in Kabul confirmed the incident but did not elaborate on the number of casualties in the attack.
Taliban spokesman, meanwhile, has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Afghanistan is still suffering from insecurity and violence years after the United States and its allies invaded the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.
The military invasion removed Taliban, but militants still seek to wrest control over the war-ravaged country.
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