By DPA,
Kabul : Taliban militants overran a district in the north-eastern Afghan province of Nuristan after overpowering local forces, a senior police official said Tuesday.
Over 300 heavily armed Taliban insurgents attacked the Waigal district early Tuesday and captured the main town of Shamsul, provincial police chief Rahman Zahid said.
“We had to retreat because we did not have enough men or weapons to defend the district against over 300 Taliban fighters,” Zahid told DPA.
The locally recruited policemen scattered to villages surrounding the district, he said.
“There were no foreign forces or Afghan army soldiers and the Taliban had also blocked all the roads linking to the district,” he said.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement sent to media that their fighters captured 12 armed police and 19 vehicles, including four military rangers, during the operation.
The rest of the police forces fled the area after short resistance, he said, adding the Taliban had hoisted their white flag in the centre of the district.
Major Tim James, a spokesman for NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, said the military was aware of the situation, saying “all I can say is we are looking into it”.
James said NATO troops were not stationed in the district.