District retaken from militants after 30 months

ASADABAD (PAN): Afghan forces on Friday recaptured the Want Waigal district of eastern Nuristan province, 30 months after the town fell to rebels, an official said.

Government retook the district at 2pm as a result of a major operation that was launched a day earlier, the Nuristan governor’s spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Zahir Bahand said the security suffered no casualties during the offensive that left a number of fighters dead and wounded. However, he had no specific figures.

But a spokesman for the Afghan National Army (ANA), Mohammad Haroon Yousafzai, said a Taliban commander named Syed Habib had been killed and his body was still lying at the scene.

He added the operation, involving hundreds of ANA soldiers, police and intelligence personnel, was still ongoing in certain parts of Want Waigal.

A day earlier, clashes between the security forces and insurgents took place at several locations, leaving at least nine rebels dead and wounded. Three policemen were also killed and six others wounded.

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