KABUL, Sept 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – More than 110 militants have been killed in Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, as government forces increased pressure on the Taliban outfit, officials said Sunday.
In the latest crackdown, government forces launched massive offensive from the ground and air, against the Taliban in Yangi Qala district of the northern Takhar province, Sunday morning.
Besides recapturing the restive district and killing five armed militants, including their commander, Mullah Wazir, the military also attacked Taliban positions in neighbouring Darqad district, provincial government spokesman, Mohammad Jawad Hajari, said.
Similarly, aircraft stormed a Taliban hideout in Dara-e-Suf Payan district of the northern Samangan province, killing 12 militants, including Mawlawi Noorudin, the shadow governor of the armed group for the troubled province, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai told Xinhua.
Seven more militants were killed in Garziwan, of the northern Faryab province, over the past 24 hours.
More than 90 militants were killed and 20 others injured as security forces, backed by fighting planes, stormed Taliban hideouts in parts of the eastern Paktika province since Saturday.
The increase in the government forces’ crackdowns on the Taliban fighters is taking place in the wake of the cancellation of U.S.-Taliban peace talks last week.
After a suicide bombing on Sept 5 killed 12, including an American soldier, and injured 42 Afghan civilians, U.S. President, Donald Trump, called off the talks.
According to local officials, the U.S.-led coalition forces’ fighting planes backed the Afghan forces in crackdown on the armed militants.
Taliban fighters have also stepped up operations since the cancelation of the peace talks and challenging government forces in several provinces.
According to Abdul Qadir, a power company official, Taliban militants have destroyed three pylons in the northern Baghlan province, and thus cutting some electricity supply to Kabul.– NNN-XINHUA