10 killed as Faryab fighting continues

MAIMANA (PAN on Wednesday claimed inflicting heavy casualties on each other in the Qaisar district of northern Faryab province, officials said on Wednesday.

Led by Pakistanis, hundreds of Taliban militants from Faryab, Badghis and Ghor provinces stormed the Shakh bazaar area of the district on Wednesday, a military spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Maj. Mohammad Reza, speaking on behalf of the 209th Shahin Military Corps, said the attackers were repulsed after security forces inflicted heavy casualties on them.   

He said eight rebels were killed and many others injured, but their exact number remained unclear. Three of the dead rebels were wearing Afghan National Army (ANA) and police uniforms.

Two security personnel were also killed and a third injured in the clash, according to Reza, who insisted Shakh bazaar was under the control of security forces.

However, the Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed the fighters had inflicted heavy casualties on security forces and remained in control of Shakh bazaar.

He said a large number of security personnel had reached the scene but were unable to wrest back control of the area. So far, 39 security personnel had been killed and eight armored vehicles damaged, he added.

The administrative head of Qaisar, Abdul Jamil Siddiqui, said seven people, including a 10-year old girl and a woman, were injured when a rocket hit their house in Shakh bazaar.

He said hundreds of families had been displaced from Sar Asiab, Mughal, Qabchaq, Timuri, Shurabak and Torkmanha villages had sought refuge in mountainous areas due to the ongoing unrest.

Syed Abdul Baqi, a provincial council spokesman, said Shakh bazaar area retained its strategic and economic importance. He urged authorities concerned to take tight measures for security in the area.

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