Shindand fight ends with killing of 20 rebels

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Two days of fighting in the Shindand district of western Herat ended on Friday with the killing of 20 insurgents and injuries to two security personnel, Governor Syed Fazlullah Wahidi said.

Locals said tens of well-armed militants stormed police check-posts in the district and closed in on to the main bazaar. Residents stayed indoors as the fighting erupted.

At least 60 fighters on motorbikes marched toward the bazaar. Police spokesman Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi confirmed the heavy clashes till last evening.

Twenty-five militants from Helmand and Farah provinces had attacked the district but most of them fled or taken shelter in civilian homes in the area.

Wahidi told Pajhwok Afghan News the clashes had ended but some militants were still holed up in locals’ homes, continuing to fire at security forces from there.

“We had prior information from the National Directorate of Security (NDS were planning an attack on the district. We were prepared to thwart the move. Security forces have killed 20 rebels in the fight,” he added.

Two Afghan security forces, he added, had been wounded in the firefight.

Maj. Najibullah, spokesman for the 207th Zafar Corps of the Afghan National Army, said around 300 insurgents were involved in the attack that had been repulsed.

Chahar Mahal locality resident Muhammad said around 60 militants on motorbikes had entered their houses, from where they started firing at security forces.

Another local, Hazrat, said the fighters initially showed strength but when reinforcement arrived, they started fleeing the area and looked for shelter.

Ministry of Defence spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi rejected reports of militant entering the district, saying a batch of commandos had been deployed to the bazaar to thwart any untoward incident.

rm /mud

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