“Friends” mounting attacks in the north: Ulumi

KUNDUZ CITY (Pajhwok): Interior Minister Noorul Haq Ulumi on Thursday claimed recent attacks in northern provinces were being mounted by those who had accepted Afghanistan’s laws, but they preferred personal interests over the national interest.

Addressing a gathering in Kunduz City after arriving here, Ulumi assured the province would never fall to insurgents.

 “The recent insecurities and insurgent attacks would never cause the fall of Kunduz. The government will round up all these insurgents and throw them into the river.”

About the cause of insecurities, he said: “the country’s south is affected by Afghanistan’s enemies, but the north by friends.”

Without naming anyone, the minister said the war in the north had been waged by those who had endorsed the Afghan Constitution but they prioritised serving their own interests.

He said the war that had started from Kandahar, Helmand, Zabul and Ghazni provinces would end in Kunduz, Badakhshan and Baghlan.

Ulumi said 6,000 policemen had been deployed in Kunduz and they would soon vanquish militants. “We will eliminate all those who harm innocent civilians and create fears.”

Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar Safi said security forces had pushed back militants from their strongholds. He urged residents to cooperate with security forces.

Reports say more than 140 insurgents and 20 security forces personnel have been killed in the Imam Saheb after 2,000 insurgents, including foreign fighters, stormed the district.

hg/ma