KABUL, Sept 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – More than 30 Taliban militants were killed and eight others wounded, after the Afghan Air Force targeted Taliban assailants, the Afghan Defence Ministry confirmed late yesterday.
The airstrike came, after Taliban assailants attacked security checkpoints in northern Kunduz province, early in the day.
The ministry said, the Taliban stormed security checkpoints in Nekpay-e-Sayyed Ramadan locality, of Khan Abad district, in the morning, adding, the Afghan forces “in accordance with active defence course of action” responded to the attackers.
“As a result, more than 30 militants, including two Taliban divisional commanders named Faizani and Qari Ibrahim, were killed, and eight militants wounded,” the statement said.
Four militants’ vehicles, eight motorcycles and many weapons and ammunition were also destroyed.
Villagers said, several civilians, who tried to help affected militants after first initial airstrikes, were also killed and injured by subsequent sorties.
In the meantime, the statement said that, based on initial information, civilians were not affected in the strikes, but the Ministry of Defence would investigate the claims.
Before the airstrikes, three policemen and three militants were killed and four police personnel and a military vehicle went missing, during the clashes in the same locality, provincial officials confirmed earlier in the day.– NNN-XINHUA
