Taliban overrun strategic area, torch security posts

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): Local officials confirmed on Sunday Taliban insurgents had overrun a strategic area called Bandar in the Kohistan district of northwestern Faryab province.

Hundreds of militants staged attacks from different directions on security forces and public uprising members in Kohistan and captured the area late on Saturday, they said.

The Taliban are destroyed the security posts and torching civilians homes in the locality, said a former deputy chief of the provincial council and public uprising commander.

Mohibullah Mirzad told Pajhwok Afghan News Bandar and Qala-i-Mirzad areas had fallen into the hands of the Taliban. He said one policeman was killed and 12 others were wounded while many others had been missing.

Without giving the exact number of security forces stationed in the area, he said that 42 people, including seven policemen, had fled the locality. There has been no information about the rest of the security personnel.

He added Bandar area, with a population of 60,000, had 75 small and large villages. The strategic area was lost to the Taliban last night due to negligence of the provincial leadership, he alleged.

Kohistan’s deputy police chief Col. Mohammad Naeem Andrabi verified that the area had fallen to the militants. However, he was unaware about the casualties inflicted on security forces.

Damla Nader Sayedi, Taliban’s shadow chief for Bandar, rejected the claims that the fighters were destroying and torching civilian houses. But he did say the rebels had destroyed seven security check-posts.

sa/mud

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