Militants overrun remote district in Nuristan

JALALABAD (PAN): Militants overran Doab district of eastern Nuristan province as a result of two days of intense fighting, officials said on Wednesday.

In a tactical move, the security personnel withdrew from the district headquarters late on Tuesday night, the provincial police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Gen. Shamsur Rahman Nuristani said the remote town was currently controlled neither by security forces nor the insurgents.

Eight fighters and three policemen were killed during two-day clashes, said the district chief, Fida Mohammad, who added the fighting was still ongoing.

A spokesman for the Gulbadin Hekmatyar-led Hezb-i-Islami.

Twenty policemen had surrendered to the rebels along with their 50 weapons, he said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, also said they had wrested the district’s control. However, he did not say anything about the HIA involvement in the fighting.

myn/mud