The local security officials on Sunday said that a group of the Taliban militants have allegedly gang-raped a woman in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province.
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The report released earlier this week said that about 65.6 per cent of districts across Afghanistan were under government “control or influence” at the end of May, “a decrease from the 70.5 per cent” at the end of January.
The commander of USA forces in Afghanistan, Army General John Nicholson, said most of the areas the Taliban controlled were rural.
Taliban fighters staged a surprise assault on Khanashin overnight and fighting was still continuing in parts of the district, a provincial government spokesman told Afghan media Saturday.
“The district is now clean and 18 Taliban militants and one Afghan soldier were killed in the operation”, the spokesman said. He said that bodies still littered the ground.
Taliban militants reportedly attacked a series of police checkpoints Friday night in the district of Kanashin, killing approximately 17 officers and wounding up to 10 others.
The militants were killed in the Achin district of the IS regional stronghold of Nangarhar during an operation by the Afghan army with air support from worldwide troops deployed in Afghanistan, Efe news quoted a government official as saying in a statement.
Heavy fighting in the Helmand district of Afghanistan has resulted with shifting control to Taliban.
Helmand is a key opium producing and smuggling region.
The report, published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), said the area under Afghan government “control or influence” had decreased to 65.6 percent by the end of May from 70.5 percent near the end of January, based on data provided by US forces in Afghanistan. The area under government “control or influence” decreased to 65.6 per cent by the end of May from 70.5 per cent past year, based on data provided by United States forces in Afghanistan.
Helmand, a Taliban heartland, has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as the militants have stepped up attacks in the province.
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Atal said that the police _ who also fight on the front lines in Afghanistan’ relentless insurgency _ had received no help or backup from other branches of the security forces, including the army.
