Provincial deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar told VOA Thursday that at least 45 Taliban fighters were killed and many more wounded in air raids before Afghan forces entered the Sangin district center in Helmand province.
A U.S. military spokesman, Col. Michael Lawhorn, confirmed to VOA that U.S. aircraft also participated in the fighting.
“U.S. forces conducted two strikes in Sangin District, Helmand Province, December 23, against threats to the force,” said Lawhorn.
Helmand borders Pakistan's violence-hit southwestern Baluchistan province and the war zone is located at around 90 miles west of the provincial capital, Quetta, the Pakistani city from where Afghan officials allege the Taliban's leadership council named 'Quetta Shura' directs the insurgency.
Meanwhile, the Taliban has condemned the extension of UN Security Council sanctions against the group and “direct involvement” of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in the Helmand fighting.
Afghan officials have defended the deployment of a “small group” of British military personnel to the province “in the advisory role.”
“The corrupt Kabul administration also welcomed this cruel abhorrent decision of the UNSC and asked for even more sanction against the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban),” the Islamist insurgency said in a statement Thursday.
It went on to allege that “the barbaric occupation forces” are directly engaged in the Helmand fighting and conducting “blind airstrikes” on residential areas.
“We see the above obstacles created in front of peace as an intentional effort to sabotage the peace process and consider these steps the main cause of the protraction of war in our beloved homeland,” said the Taliban statement.
The Taliban reiterated that their jihad against the “foreign occupation" of Afghanistan until the last soldier has left the country...
voanews.com
24/12/15
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Afghanistan: 'Dozens of Taliban killed' in battle for Sangin...
ReplyDeleteA local Taliban commander and 50 fighters have been killed in overnight fighting in Sangin in Helmand province, the Afghan interior ministry says.
Government forces have been trying to recapture the area from the Taliban, who say they control the district.
Afghan officials say they have retaken key buildings in a counter-attack, and the US has carried out air strikes.
The ministry named the dead commander as Mullah Nasir, a confidant of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
Strategically located, and a centre for opium production, Sangin would be a significant gain for the Taliban.
Fighting around the town escalated this week and by Wednesday the militants said they had captured all of Sangin, pinning down government troops in an army barracks.
This was denied by the Afghan defence ministry, who said fighting was continuing and that reinforcements had been sent.
The interior ministry said the Afghan army and police commandos launched an operation late on Wednesday, leading to the deaths of the Taliban commander and his fighters.....http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35174126
24/12/15