close
Thursday March 28, 2024

19 militants killed in Afghan gun battles, airstrikes

By Xinhua
June 25, 2018

GHAZNI/MAIMANA/JALALABAD: Up to 12 militants and three security personnel have been killed in fighting between Afghan government forces and Taliban outfit in Andar and Giro districts of the eastern Ghazni province, provincial police chief Farid Ahmad Mashal said Sunday. While six militants were killed in Afghan airstrikes in Khawja Sabzposh district and a key IS militant also killed in Nangarhar on Sunday.

In the first incident, the fighting which erupted Saturday night, according to the official, seven more militants and two security personnel have been injured in clashes between Afghan government forces and Taliban outfit in Andar and Giro districts of the Ghazni province.

Taliban militants haven’t commented on the report.

Meanwhile, at least six militants were killed as Afghan government forces aircrafts pounded Taliban hideouts in Khawja Sabzposh district of the northern Faryab province on Saturday, an army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said Sunday.

The militants, according to the official, were planning to attack security forces’ checkpoints in Qashuri area of Khawja Sabzposh district, but the government forces’ warplanes in a preemptive action struck the Taliban hideouts, killing six fighters on the spot and injuring another.

Taliban militants who are in control of parts of Faryab province and threatening the provincial capital Maimana are yet to make comment.

A prominent Islamic State (IS) militant was killed following a special operation in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, authorities said Sunday. “A special operation unit of National Directorate of Security (NDS) launched an operation in Safari area of Chaparhar district Saturday night, killing a key member of IS named Adam Khan,” the provincial government said in a statement.

The killed militant had been plotting terror attacks in the provincial capital of Jalalabad city, the statement added.

He was also the planner and organiser of several attacks in Jalalabad city, including bomb attacks in cricket stadium, provincial tax department, medical university and provincial education department, and Pashtunistan Square as well within the past couple of months, according to the statement.

Tens of civilians and security force members were either killed or injured by the attacks.

Several motorcycles, weapons and ammunition were also destroyed by NDS force, which is the primary intelligence agency of the country, the statement said.

The IS group, which emerged in Nangarhar in early 2015, has yet to make comments on the report.