Taliban Assault 2nd Afghan Town in 2 Days as Peace Deal Nears

“I’m at the entrance traces now, and the preventing could be very fierce,” Mr. Mohseni mentioned. “The location within the town could be very unhealthy — persons are panicking and looking for tactics to escape.”

That Mr. Mohseni, a civilian authentic, was once serving to to arrange the town’s defenses was once a sign that govt safety forces there have been in disarray. The governors of each Baghlan and Kunduz provinces had been absent.

The Baghlan governor, Farid Baseem, left for India a number of days in the past with out informing provincial officers, Mr. Mohseni mentioned. The Kundz governor, Abdul Jabbar Naemi, was once in India on Sunday for scientific remedy, mentioned his spokesman, Ismatullah Muradi.

Mustafa Mohseni, a former police authentic and present armed forces commander in Pul-i-Kumri and Safdar Mohseni’s brother, mentioned Taliban warring parties had entered sections of the town as cops and militiamen fought to carry them off. Mr. Mohseni mentioned that the primary freeway to Kabul was once closed and that citizens had remained of their houses because the militants complicated.

“We heard the sounds of gunfire and mortars at four a.m.,” mentioned Khadija Yaqeen, who lives in a piece of Pul-i-Kumri beneath assault. Ms. Yaqeen, who leads the native ladies’s affairs directorate, mentioned provider have been minimize, restored after which minimize once more, and that almost all cell phone provider was once down.

Executive officers mentioned on Sunday that Taliban warring parties have been pushed out of Kunduz through commandos and airstrikes, with many militants shifting south to assault Pul-i-Kumri. Taliban warring parties have been in a position to penetrate deep into Kunduz, in short occupying the well being division and a health facility, mentioned Ehsanullah Fazli, the well being director for Kunduz Province.

The preventing killed a minimum of 20 safety power participants and 5 civilians, and wounded 85 others, the Ministry of Inside mentioned in a remark. As many as 56 Taliban warring parties had been killed, the ministry mentioned.