DUSHANBE, June 8, 2015, Asia-Plus — Taliban militants have reportedly overrun the Yamgan district in Badakhshan Province, which borders Tajikistan, Pakistan and China.
Afghan news agency
Khaama Press
reports that Taliban militants seized the district on June 7 after a five-day clash with national security forces.
Zakariya Sawda, representative of Badakhshan People in Afghanistan Parliament (Lower House), told reporters that Afghan security forces had not taken enough efforts to prevent the seizure of the district.
He further added that the number of Taliban militants in the Yamgan district is now 300 people, including residents of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia’s Republic of Chechnya.
Afghan media sources report Afghan national security forces launched a large-scale operation today to regain control of the Yamgan district.
Meanwhile, the
Voice of America
(VOA) reports that Saturday, hundreds of Taliban insurgents attacked a remote northeastern district of Yamgan at dawn and seized control. Local officials reportedly said that national security forces engaged the insurgents for several hours before staging what they called a “tactical retreat” from the Yamgan district, to prevent civilian casualties.
Afghan Interior Minister Sediq Sediqqi said in a Twitter post that Afghan forces were able to repel the insurgents after reinforcements arrived, according to VOA.
Radio Liberty
quoted Afghan officials as saying that at least three security personnel and eight Taliban militants were killed when a district in northeastern Afghanistan fell under Taliban control after rebels attacked security checkpoints on June 6.
The militants attacked the Yamgan district of Badakhshan province overnight and seized most of it, Laal Mohammad Ahmadzai, the provincial police spokesman, said on June 6.
Shah Waliullah Adeeb, the acting governor of Badakhshan, confirmed to RFE/RL”s
Radio Free Afghanistan
that the district had fallen to Taliban fighters.
“Foreign insurgents are among the dead,” he said, adding that the security forces were still fighting to regain control of the district.
Another provincial government official who requested anonymity said the district was under Taliban control and security forces had fled.
The Taliban also confirmed that its fighters had captured the center of the district.
Afghan security forces are now fighting the insurgency without the help of international troops, who ended the combat phase of their mission last year.
