Afghan conflicts claim 21 lives in 2 days

Afghan insurgency and counter-insurgency have claimed 21 lives including 19 armed militants and two security personnel in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan and Kunduz provinces over the past two days, officials said Saturday.

Security forces, according to a local official, have killed six armed Taliban fighters and injured 10 others in Tagab district of Badakhshan province with Faizabad as its capital 315 km northeast of the national capital Kabul city, since Friday.

"The security forces launched cleanup operations in Tagab district yesterday (Friday) and so far six rebels including their group commander Mullah Talha have been killed and 10 others injured," spokesman for provincial government Ahmad Nawed Frotan told Xinhua.

A security personnel has been killed and three others sustained injuries during the operation which is continuing in the area, the official admitted.

In similar conflict, elsewhere in the restive northern Kunduz province with Kunduz city as its capital 250 km north of Kabul, according to local official Imamudin Qurishi, 13 militants have been killed and 10 others injured over the past two days.

Qurishi who is also governor of Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province has confirmed that Taliban attack against security forces claimed the life of a security personnel on Saturday in the said district.

Taliban militants, however, without commenting on the situation in Badakhshan, in an online statement confirmed fighting in Kunduz province, insisting that the armed group has inflicted huge casualties on government forces in Kunduz province on Friday.

Since warring sides exaggerate the casualties of opponents, it is difficult to get verification from independent sources on the situation of fighting groups in the frontline in Afghanistan.

Source: XINHUA