Kabul: Taliban militants captured a district in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province on Saturday, the local Tolo news channel reported.
“Following heavy clashes, the Yamgan district was captured by Taliban militants this morning,” Tolo said, citing local officials.
Meanwhile, Gul Mohammad Bedar, deputy to Badakhshan provincial governor, told Xinhua news agency that heavy clashes were still going on between security forces and Taliban militants, and the government was sending reinforcements to dislodge advancing militants from Yamgan district.
On the other hand, an official on the condition of anonymity said that hundreds of Taliban militants begun attacking checkpoints around Yamgan district headquarters late Friday.
A self-proclaimed spokesman for the Taliban outfit, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the Taliban captured Yamgan district at 10 a.m. and the government forces retreated from the area.
Badakhshan has been the scene of Taliban-led militancy over the past one year and the militants killed 28 government troops in Yamgan’s neighbouring Jarm district last month.