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| Afghanistan |
| US airstrikes hit Taliban positions in Nangarhar |
| 2016-12-31 |
| The Taliban insurgents suffered casualties in an airstrike conducted by the US forces in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The provincial police commandment in a statement said at least 3 Taliban insurgents were killed and 7 others were wounded in the airstrike. The statement further added that the airstrike was carried out in Chaparhar district of Nangarhar. The Taliban insurgents group has not commented regarding the report so far. Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in eastern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed militant groups have increased their insurgency activities in some remote districts of the province during the recent months. Both the Taliban insurgents and ISIS loyalists are actively operating in some of the remotely located districts of the province. The increased insurgency activities by the Taliban militants and ISIS loyalists forced the US forces based in Afghanistan to resume airstrikes under a broader role granted by the Obama administration earlier this year. The increased raids by the US and Afghan forces followed amid concerns that the ISIS loyalists are attempting to turn the province into its regional operational base besides the Taliban insurgents conducting militancy. 13 wounded in mortar attacks in Nangarhar At least 13 civilians were wounded in a mortar attack in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, local officials said Thursday. The incident took place late on Wednesday evening in the restive Bati Kot district with the local officials blaming the militant groups for the incident. The provincial police commandment said at least 5 children and 2 women were among those wounded. According to the local officials, some of the wounded civilians were discharged after receiving treatment while some are still being treated in the provincial hospital. No group including the Taliban insurgents has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident. Both the Taliban insurgents and militants loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are actively operating in the restive Bati Kot district. This comes as the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said late in October that the mission has documented 8,397 conflict-related civilian casualties (2,562 deaths and 5,835 injured) between 1 January and 30 September, representing a one per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2015. Ground engagements remained the leading cause of civiliancasualties, followed by suicide and complex attacks, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). UNAMA further added that the anti-Government Elements caused 61 per cent of civilian casualties – 1,569 civilian deaths and 3,574 injured (5,143 total civilian casualties). |
| Posted by:badanov |