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Afghanistan: dozens dead as Taliban attack Ghazni, officials say Afghanistan: dozens dead as Taliban attack Ghazni, officials say
(about 3 hours later)
The Taliban has attacked the eastern Afghan city of Ghazni, leaving dozens dead and wounding at least 100 before government troops forced the militants to retreat, officials said. Taliban fighters armed with heavy weapons have tried to overrun a provincial capital in Afghanistan, attacking security forces and killing at least 14 police officers in Ghazni overnight before being pushed back, officials said.
The attacks began around 2am with intense gunbattles raging and fires burning in several shops in Ghazni city. US attack helicopters and drone aircraft provided government forces with air support. But as smoke rose across the city on Friday morning, witnesses reported bodies lying in the streets.
Taliban fighters hiding inside homes in the city’s residential areas slipped into the streets attacking Afghan security forces, provincial police chief Farid Ahmad Mashal told Associated Press. Provincial officials said the militants entered the city, 70 miles south of Kabul, from two directions and opened fire on all security checkpoints.
After fighting off the nighttime assault, police were conducting house-to-house searches and trying to work out how the Taliban infiltrated so deep into the city, which is barely 120km (75 miles) south of the Afghan capital of Kabul. “The Taliban launched their assault on all checkpoints of the city at midnight,” Aref Noori, the spokesman for the governor of Ghazni province, told the Guardian. “We fought them inside the city, we pushed them back from the city centre, but heavy fighting is ongoing in western outskirts of the city.
Administrator of the Ghazni city hospital, Baz Mohammad Hemat, said 14 security forces were killed and 20 security personnel were wounded. So far two civilians were wounded, but Hemat said the city was shut down and ambulances were not being sent out. “They couldn’t capture any government buildings… One group of the insurgents used a building near the police headquarters and opened fire so our forces killed them.”
Mashal said 12 police had been wounded and there were more than 100 other casualties. He did not say how many were dead and how many were wounded. Most of the casualties were Taliban, he said. A statement from the US military headquarters in Kabul said fighting had ceased by 8am and Afghan forces had held their ground and maintained control of all government centres.
Several bodies of dead Taliban fighters remained on the street after the government pushed back the Taliban from the city, the police chief said. “US forces responded with close-air support (US attack helicopters) and conducted one strike (drone). In addition, US aircraft conducted a show of presence,” Lt Col Martin O’Donnell, the spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan, said in an emailed statement.
He said the bodies of 39 Taliban soldiers were recovered beneath a bridge on the southern edge of the city. Air strikes called in to quash the offensive also killed dozens of Taliban, he said. Several bodies of Taliban fighters remained on the street after the insurgents were pushed out of Ghazni, officials said.
Defense ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said the army helped the police and the city was under control of government forces. “At least 30 dead bodies of Taliban fighters are left on the ground,” Noori said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed parts of the city had been seized and scores of people killed. He said three Taliban had been killed and eight wounded. The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement saying multiple attacks were launched overnight in Ghazni. Dozens of Afghan soldiers and police had been killed and large quantities of weapons and equipment had been seized, he said.
Inside Ghazni city, residents were staying indoors making independent verification of the different claims impossible. “Police commander of the province escaped to the airport … attack on the prison started moments ago,” Mujahid said.
All shops in the city were closed due to the fighting. The road from Kabul to Afghanistan’s southern provinces was also closed because it runs through Ghazni. Residents said they were trapped inside their homes and could not get information on their friends and relatives.
“It was about 2am when we woke up. I could hear heavy gunfire outside of my home,” Hanif Haidari, a resident told the Guardian. “I did not hear such heavy sound of gunshot in my life. All were terrified. I called to my friends and relatives; they are all hiding in their homes. No one could go outside. I haven’t opened the door yet.
“Taliban used mosque loudspeakers to warn the people. They said ‘Stay in your house, otherwise you will be responsible for your death. You would die.’
“In the early morning, I wanted to go outside, but I saw through a hole in the door that Taliban fighters were firing gunshots through a hole in the door. Helicopters circle overhead now and less gunshots can be heard.”
Provincial officials say there was a delay in sending reinforcements.
“Local people are worried,” said Nasi Ahmad Faghiri, a provincial council member. “We called officials in Kabul and asked them for reinforcement but they did not arrive soon.”
The attack came amid growing hopes of talks to end 17 years of war in Afghanistan and less than two weeks before the Eid al-Adha festival, when the western-backed government in Kabul had been considering offering a ceasefire.
In June, a three-day truce during the Eid al-Fitr holiday brought unprecedented scenes of unarmed Taliban fighters mingling with security forces in Kabul and other cities, fuelling hopes of negotiations to end the war.
Insurgents have regularly tried to take provincial capitals, in attacks that serve both as a show of strength, and a chance to take weapons and equipment.
In 2015, insurgents briefly seized control of Kunduz. They were ousted within days, but it was the first time the group had controlled a provincial capital since they were removed from power in 2001, and a major shock to the government and its backers.
In subsequent years insurgents fought their way back into the heart of Kunduz and Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, and Farah province last May, but never fully displaced government forces.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report
AfghanistanAfghanistan
TalibanTaliban
South and Central AsiaSouth and Central Asia
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