KABUL, July 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) – At least three security force members and 21 Taliban militants were killed and 22 people wounded, during daily clashes and violent attacks in Afghanistan, authorities said Friday.
In one incident, two police officers were killed and five others wounded, after a police armoured vehicle was struck by a Taliban improvised bomb, in Nahrin district of northern Baghlan province, Friday morning, district chief, Fazluddin Muradi, said.
The affected people were travelling to surrounding areas of the district, where Taliban militants established a checkpoint along a road, disturbing local villagers’ normal life, according to Muradi.
In eastern Paktia province, a staff of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country’s national intelligence agency, was killed and two of his comrades wounded in bomb explosion in Sayyed Karam district early Friday, local TV channel Arian News reported.
In neighbouring Wardak province, 11 Taliban militants were killed and three security force members and seven militants wounded, after Taliban attacked a security forces’ convoy, in Sayyed Abad district.
“Afghan Air Force supported the ground forces during the clashes in Sayyed Abad, along the main Kabul-Kandahar road, and those killed were two Taliban divisional commanders, Abdul Bari and Wahaj,” Defence Ministry said in a statement.
In southern Zabul province, three Taliban militants were killed and five others wounded during clashes in Shah Joy district, Gul Islam Sayyal, provincial government spokesman, said.
Afghan National Defence and Security Forces remain in control of most of Afghanistan’s population centres and all of 34 provincial capitals, but Taliban insurgents control large portions of rural areas.
Violence still lingered in the war-torn country, after a peace deal was signed between the United States and Taliban in Qatar late in Feb, which paved the way for a phased U.S. force withdrawal.
According to the agreement, some 10,000 U.S. and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan will withdraw from country by July next year.– NNN-AGENCIES
