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Taliban Sustain Heavy Casualty Toll In Baghlan
 Embattled Afghan armed forces have conducted a major military operation against Taliban insurgents in Baghlan-e-Markazi district, eliminating a number of insurgents in the process and breaking their four day siege on an Afghan National Army (ANA) base in the volatile region in northern Afghanistan.Reports from the warfront reveal that the insurgents kept the base under their siege for four days in their attempt to capture the soldiers alive, but they did not succeed and instead faced strong retaliation from the besieged soldiers. The troops who foiled the Taliban's attempt to capture the base have said they continued resisting Taliban attacks despite the insurgents' calls to them to surrender. "We remained under Taliban siege for four days, they asked us to surrender, but we said that you (Taliban) are the slaves of Pakistan and we will never surrender to you," Matiullah, an ANA soldier who resisted Taliban during the siege said. "Taliban kept the base under siege for four days, they made several attempts to capture us and asked us to surrender, but failed," another soldier Mohammad Musa said. Security commanders in the area have said that the army inflicted heavy casualties to the Taliban in the battlefield. "The area came under siege and we launched a joint operation and broke the siege," Lieutenant Colonel Ziauddin, commander of the first battalion of the ANA said. "All personnel of the commando, police and national security are in good spirits. The commandos assure the entire people of Baghlan to stay alongside them until current issues are resolved," Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Ali Yazdani said. Referring to human casualties among the Taliban, Abdul Rashid Bashir, security in-charge of Baghlan police department said that so far in the operation, seven Taliban have been killed and scores more wounded including the group's shadow district governor for Baghlan-e-Markazi. "Taliban's shadow governor in Baghlan-e-Markazi and his nine companions were wounded in the operation and seven others were killed. Mangal village in the area has been cleared of Taliban," he said. Posted by: Steve White 2016-02-09 |
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