Afghan Taliban give a big blow to government at start of spring offensive
Shares
KUNDUZ: Taliban fighters seized a district centre in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, while a bomb at an army base in the southern province of Helmand killed at least five people. The latest violence came as insurgents pushed ahead with a spring offensive.
Fighters captured the governor’s house and police headquarters in Aq Tapa, in the Qala-e Zal district of Kunduz province and Afghan government forces were fighting to drive them out, said Sayed Assadullah Sadat, a provincial council member.
The Taliban’s main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said fighters had captured a police headquarters, 10 security check posts and a market in Qala-e Zal, north of Kunduz city.
At the other end of the country, in Helmand, insurgents launched a vehicle bomb attack on a military base in Nad-e-Ali district, killing four civilians and a soldier, according to a statement from the provincial governor’s office.
