[Peace-discuss] More than 50 Dead as Taliban Clash with Afghan Forces

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

More than 50 Dead as Taliban Clash with Afghan Forces

Description: Afghan National Army soldiers

Afghan National Army soldiers | Photo: Archive

Published 16 December 2014 (11 hours 41 minutes ago) 

At least five Afghan National Army soldiers and 41 Taliban militants were
killed in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar Province.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for Tuesday's assault on the Afghan
National Army, which left at least 50 dead, according to local sources.

The increasing casualties among Afghan soldiers and police are in-keeping
with a trend shown in recent months as the
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/UPDATE-Taliban-Kills-84-Children-in-P
akistan-20141216-0005.html> Taliban have escalated its attacks against the
Afghan government. 

The group of Taliban militants, reportedly disguised in Afghan army
uniforms, attacked a security check post in the province late Tuesday.

Provincial governor Shuja-ul-Mulk Jalal said the attack on the post led to
clashes with the army, which also left at least six militants dead.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry spokesman, Gen. Zahir Azimi, also confirmed
that seven Afghan army soldiers were killed following the militants' attack
and a roadside bomb explosion in the past 24 hours but did identify the
exact locations where the Afghan soldiers were killed.

Meanwhile, a Taliban attack on a government compound in southeastern Ghazni
Province last Thursday left at least 18 people, including civilians and
security forces, dead and over 150 others injured.

Some unidentified "local sources" say that 41 Taliban insurgents were also
killed and another 47 wounded in Tuesday's attacks, according to Tolo News.

The spokesman for the Afghanistan's Selab 201 Military Corps, Noman Atifi,
said that the most recent clash took place in the Dangam district of the
Kunar province "when the residents of the district started rising up against
the Taliban." The Afghan National Security Forces then launched a military
operation, said Atifi.

The spokesman further explained that the clash is still continuing in
Dangam, that the Taliban insurgents have torched 12 civilian homes, and that
additional troops were deployed to the area Tuesday "to support the local
forces."

ANA officials have said that hundreds of local and foreign Taliban
insurgents have attacked the district with the support of Pakistan's
intelligence agency, in an effort to collapse the districts of Dangam and
Asmar of the province.

Despite United States-backing, the Afghan National Army were recently
reported to be
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Afghan-Troops-Inept-Casualties-Soarin
g-20141211-0047.html> in bad shape. Around 5000 Afghan security personnel
have been killed this year alone by the Taliban, and defections are soaring.

 

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