By Xinhua
Kabul : Taliban militants admitted Monday that they had vacated Musa Qala district of Helmad province as Afghan and NATO forces continued their operation to retake the district in south Afghanistan.
“We retreated from Musa Qala in order to avoid inflicting casualties on civilians,” the outfit’s spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi told media.
Afghan troops backed by NATO launched a major offensive Saturday afternoon to retake the strategically important Musa Qala district. More than two dozen Taliban fighters have been killed so far, according to official sources.
Musa Qala, which fell into Taliban hands last February, has enabled Taliban fighters to regroup and target Afghan and the US-led coalition forces in the southern and eastern provinces of the country.