International News

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, (APP/AFP) – Taliban militants
on Saturday captured a district in northeastern Kunduz province,
near the provincial capital where militants scored their biggest
victory in 14 years last September.
The militants, have intensified their attacks nationwide
and tightened their grip on the besieged capital of Helmand
province southwest of Kunduz in recent weeks.
Khan Abad district, which is around 30 kilometres east
of Kunduz city, fell to Taliban after the militants launched
a pre-dawn attack on the district centre, according to local
officials.
“After several hours of fighting the militants overran
the district,” the district’s governor Hayatullah Amiri told
AFP, adding that the provincial governor ignored their calls
for reinforcements.
Provincial spokesman Sayed Mahmood Danish confirmed
the overnight battle, and said security forces were “trying
to get back control of the district from the Taliban”.
Khan Abad resident Abdul Satar told AFP hundreds had
fled their homes amid the fighting.
“The residents of the city are worried about their
lives and safety. People are fleeing their homes and they
have left their shops,” he said, adding that roads to
neighbouring provinces were closed.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed in a
statement that the group’s fighters were in control of
district and police headquarters.
The Taliban briefly captured northern Kunduz city in
September last year, the first city to fall to the insurgents
in their biggest victory in 14 years of war.
The militants were driven out almost two weeks later
by Afghan forces backed by US aircraft and NATO soldiers, but
it marked the first time since 2001 that the Taliban were able
to take control of a major city in the country.