Taliban fighters seize district in east Afghanistan

chief

Prime VIP
The battle erupted earlier this week in Barg-i-Matal district of mountainous Nuristan province, a remote area bordering Pakistan, when hundreds of Taliban fighters stormed the district centre, said Qasim Payman, police chief of the province.

"The police force in the area has tactically retreated from the district after days of fighting," he told Reuters, adding there were no signs of reinforcements despite repeated requests.

Hundreds of armed villagers, known as Lashkar-i-Qaomi (the army of tribes) have joined with police to try to push back the insurgents, Payman said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said insurgents inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan police and villagers fighting them.

In October 2009, Taliban insurgents killed eight American soldiers after storming their remote outposts in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province.

U.S. forces announced plans to withdraw from the area as part commander General Stanley McChrystal's strategy to focus his forces on population centres.

Since the withrawal of foreign troops from Kamdesh and Barg-i-Matal districts, Afghan police say the area is under immense threat from insurgents infiltrating from Pakistan.
 
Top