Afghanistan: Insurgents are capitalising on ultimate levels of withdrawal of US-led international forces. (File)
Kabul:
The Taliban have captured their first provincial capital since launching an offensive to coincide with the departure of international troops, a senior official confirmed Friday, a major psychological blow to a authorities desperately defending a string of cities towards the insurgents.
“Town of Zaranj, provincial capital of Nimroz, has fallen to the Taliban,” Roh Gul Khairzad, the deputy governor, informed AFP.
She mentioned town — in southwest Afghanistan close to the Iranian border — had fallen “with out a battle”, and social media confirmed clips of insurgents roaming the streets, being cheered by residents.
The veracity of the movies couldn’t instantly be confirmed.
The autumn of Zaranj comes the identical day the Taliban claimed accountability for killing the top of the Afghan authorities’s media info division.
The insurgents warned simply days earlier they’d goal senior administration figures in retaliation for elevated air strikes.
The assassination of Dawa Khan Menapal, one of many authorities’s main voices, adopted one other bloody day of combating because the warfare more and more spills into Kabul.
The information from southwestern Afghanistan additionally comes because the UN Safety Council meets in New York to debate the battle.
“Sadly, the savage terrorists have dedicated a cowardly act as soon as once more and martyred a patriotic Afghan,” inside ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai mentioned of the demise of Menapal.
Menapal was common in Kabul’s tight-knit media group, and recognized for pillorying the Taliban on social media — even jokingly at occasions.
The Taliban claimed accountability for the demise, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid sending a message to media saying “he was killed in a particular assault carried out by mujahideen”.
The homicide comes after the militants warned Wednesday of extra assaults focusing on Afghan authorities leaders.
The day earlier than, defence minister Bismillah Mohammadi escaped an assassination try in a bomb-and-gun assault.
The Afghan and US militaries have stepped up air strikes of their battle towards the insurgents in a string of cities, and the Taliban mentioned Tuesday’s Kabul raid was their response.
Preventing in Afghanistan’s long-running battle has intensified since Might, when international forces started the ultimate stage of a withdrawal on account of be accomplished later this month.
The Taliban already management giant parts of the countryside, and are actually difficult authorities forces in a number of provincial capitals.
‘Nothing left’
Authorities forces proceed to hit Taliban positions with air strikes and commando raids, and the defence ministry boasted Friday of eliminating greater than 400 insurgents prior to now 24 hours.
Each side often exaggerate battlefield casualty figures, making unbiased verification nearly not possible.
However at the same time as Afghan officers claimed to be hitting the Taliban onerous, safety forces have but to flush out the militants from provincial capitals they’ve already entered — with a whole bunch of 1000’s of civilians compelled to flee in current weeks.
Social media was additionally full of movies of the devastating toll the combating has taken within the southern metropolis of Lashkar Gah, with posts displaying a significant market space in flames.
Help group Motion Towards Starvation mentioned its workplaces had been hit by an “aerial bomb” within the metropolis earlier this week, in response to an announcement launched by the organisation on Friday.
“The constructing was marked from the road and roof as a non-governmental (NGO) organisation, and the workplace location has been communicated usually to the events concerned within the battle,” mentioned the group, including that no workers had been harmed.
Within the western metropolis of Herat, a gradual stream of individuals have been leaving their properties in anticipation of a authorities assault on positions held by the Taliban.
“We utterly evacuated,” mentioned Ahmad Zia, who lived within the western a part of town.
“Now we have nothing left and we have no idea the place to go,” he informed AFP.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)