78 rebels suffered casualties in Hesarak attacks

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): A senior security official on Friday said 78 insurgents had been killed and wounded during clashes with security forces over the past one week in the Hesarak district of eastern Nangarhar province.

Nangarhar police chief Brig. Gen. Fazl Ahmad Sherzad told reporters in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, that the insurgents had launched attacks the district from all directions, with clashes in some parts still ongoing.

He alleged 250 Pakistani militia forces were fighting alongside local insurgents led by officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI.

He said besides the Pakistanis, local rebels in Azra, Sherzad, Khogyani and Hesarak districts were talking part in the attacks focused on the district headquarters.

Four days ago, Sherzad said, the district headquarters was attacked and as a result, 60 insurgents suffered casualties during the ensuing clash that left six policemen dead and eight others wounded.

On Friday, he said, there was another attack on the district building, in which 14 attackers were killed and four others wounded. Security personnel stayed unharmed in the latest attack, he said, adding additional security forces and weapons had been dispatched to the district.

Sherzad said the morale of security forces was high and the insurgents would not be allowed to reach their targets.

But the Taliban disputed the casualty figures among their fighters, saying only two militants had so far been killed and four others wounded.

The group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the fighters had captured eight security posts, killing and wounding a large number of government forces.

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