SAR-I-PUL CITY (Pajhwok): Taliban militants seized some government departments in northern Sar-i-Pul province on Sunday morning, local sources said.
Officials and residents, who did not want to be named, said the governor’s house, the police headquarters, the national directorate of security and other buildings in the 2nd police district of Sar-i-Pul City had been seized by the rebels.
One of the three police districts is under Taliban’s control, with all officials of the 1st and 2nd police districts stationed in an Afghan National Army (ANA) base.
Following fierce overnight clashes, the source told Pajhwok Afghan News that the fighting in the provincial capital subsided in the morning.
Governor Abdul Haq Shafiq, without providing details, said he had left the governor’s house and moved to the ANA base in the city.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahmadi said most areas of Sar-i-Pul City, including the main square, the provincial prison, the police headquarters and many government buildings had been seized by the fighters.
He claimed the advancing Taliban also seized 15 pick-up vehicles, 10 Humvee tanks and 100 light and heavy weapons.
Elsewhere in the embattled north, the militants stormed into Kunduz City and attacked the central prison. The group spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted the fighters had entered police district 2.
Fierce clashes between the security forces and the Taliban are ongoing in Kunduz City, Shiberghan and Lashkargah.
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