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Afghan forces advance in Helmand
Joint Afghan security forces are advancing in Helmand’s Maiwand 17 operation which stared a week ago, officials say.The advance started from the Lashkargah city PD 3 area to retake parts of Nad Ali district. Local officials said that security forces have cleared PD 3 of Lashkargah city of insurgents and have reopened the route to Nad Ali which was closed for nearly six months. Security forces are now in the Nadi Ali district center and they are trying to reopen the Marja district route too. PD 3 is located in the South West of the Lashkargah city and is one of the key locations that connect routes of Nad Ali and Marja districts. Security forces said that due to Taliban land-mining the area, the operation is progressing slowly. The added that the Taliban have suffered heavy causalities and foreign forces are backing Afghan security forces from air. Last night Afghan commando forces conducted an operation in the Chah-e-Marz area of Nad Ali district and rescued 32 civilians and 4 local policemen from a Taliban prison. A source told TOLOnews on Monday evening that foreign forces conducted an airstrike in Loye Manda area of Nad Ali which killed 15 Taliban including their local commander Haji Esmat. Two others were wounded. Government officials have not commented about the Taliban and security forces casualties. Taliban did not comment also regarding the operations and causalities. The operations conducted at a time while in past one year Taliban insurgents intensify their attacks on several parts of Helmand province. Officials said that due to clashes hundreds of families flee their areas. Posted by: badanov 2017-03-15 |
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