|
 In Jalalabad in the east of the country, a U.S. military transport
plane crashed at an airfield just after midnight, killing all 11
people on board, the U.S. military said.
The Taliban said it had shot down the aircraft, but the U.S.
military, which still has several thousands troops in Afghanistan
after NATO's combat mission ended, said there were no reports of
enemy fire and described the crash as an accident.
In Badakhsan province in Afghanistan's northeast, the Taliban took
control of Warduj district late on Thursday after heavy fighting,
according to Nawid Forotan, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
Residents in Kunduz, a strategic city of 300,000 that fell to the
Taliban in a stunning pre-dawn attack on Monday, said that while
most Taliban fighters had fled, some were holed up in civilian homes
fighting the army.The Taliban have been accused of extrajudicial
killings, raping, torturing, looting and setting fire to government
buildings during their three-day occupation of Kunduz, the Afghan
president's office said in a statement on Friday.
 "Afghanistan is committed to legally prosecute the
perpetrators of these crimes, and to that end, assigns a civilian
commission to assess the losses sustained as a result of the Taliban
presence," the statement said.
At least 60 people have been killed in the fighting as of Friday,
according to a Health Ministry spokesman. He said hospitals in
Kunduz had treated about 466 wounded.
Ahmad Sahil, a producer for local Afghan television in the city,
said many people were still too afraid to leave their houses.
"The Taliban who knew Kunduz left the city already, but many foreign
fighters could not flee and are hiding in people's homes in some
parts of the city center and are still resisting," Sahil said on
Friday.
Hamdullah Danishi, acting governor of Kunduz province, described the
capital as calm, and said there was "no major fighting".
He acknowledged, however, that the insurgents had not been
completely driven from Kunduz. "Taliban are still in civilian houses
and buildings," Danishi said. "They are using civilians as human
shields."
[to top of second column] |
TALIBAN GAINS IN NORTHEASTThe International Committee of the Red
Cross said it was increasingly concerned about the welfare of
citizens inside the city and the lack of medical supplies and
personnel.
"We are very short-staffed in the hospitals," said Peter Esmith
Ewoi, an ICRC doctor working in the city. "The medical staff in the
city cannot get to the hospitals because of the on-going
fighting."The ICRC said it has emergency medical supplies ready to
be flown in as soon as security at Kunduz airport improves.
In a worrying sign for government forces struggling to contain a
growing militant threat, the Taliban made territorial gains
elsewhere in the country, although on a smaller scale than the brief
seizure of Kunduz.
"Our forces did not get reinforcements on time," Forotan said of the
loss of Warduj district in Badakhshan. "Taliban were in big numbers,
therefore our forces retreated." Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid said militants killed 50 soldiers and gained control of 28
checkposts in a district of Badakhshan province that has been fought
over for years.
It occupies a strategic position along a highway to the border with
Tajikistan and also shares a border with China and Pakistan.
The attack started when Taliban militants raided checkpoints in
several villages, overrunning reinforcements and seizing control
late in the afternoon, according to a government report. The police
headquarters in Warduj fell at around 6 p.m. it said.
At least two police were killed in the battle, while three others
were reported missing.
(Writing by Kay Johnson and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Mike
Collett-White)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
