Meanwhile, Taliban attacks on a district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand province killed at least 24 police officers over the past two days, an Afghan official said on Sunday.
Advertisement
Abdul Majeed Akhonzada, deputy director of the provincial council, told the AP news agency that the Kanashin district had “fallen into Taliban hands”.
The fighting intensified late Friday, when the Taliban took control of the troubled district.
Much of the Marjah, Sangin, Garmser, and Dishu districts had already fallen to the Taliban.
The US has been training and equipping Afghan security forces in order to withdraw American troops from the country, but earlier this year President Obama authorised the troops to participate in the fight against the Taliban.
The precise casualty figures can not be confirmed, as bodies litter the ground and fighting was still underway. These checkpoints which are now scattered, poorly armed and vulnerable to attack are in need of consolidation, but residents seem to feel safe with the former arrangement.
The renewed offensives are a bid by the Afghan government to regain control of some five per cent of territory that has been lost to insurgent groups since May past year, according to the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction.
While the United States have been fighting the Taliban forces in 2001 until recent reduction in forces and a focus shift toward the Islamic State, the group has been trying to aggressively overthrow the Kabul Government.
The district produces most of the opium in the world and this will fund the insurgency of the group.
After the fall of Kanashin, major smuggling route for opium, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said government forces have lost part of the territory that was held in January-end.
Advertisement
The insurgents consider Helmand, along with neighboring Kandahar province, to be their heartland.
