15 Tajikistani fighters killed in air strike: ANA

Monitoring Desk

KUNDUZ: Afghan National Army (ANA) on Tuesday claimed 15 Tajikistani fighters were killed after air strike in Badakhshan province.

The aircrafts bombed a centre of foreign fighters in the Dara Khushk area of Juram district, Badakhshan province, killing 15 Tajikistani gunmen and wounding 11 others, Abdul Khalil Khalili, press officer of ANA’s 20th Division in northeastern Afghanistan, told Afghan media.

He would not say if the airstrike was conducted by Afghan Air Force or NATO-led forces.

Sources in National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the air strike targeted training centre of foreign fighters in the Dara Khushk area.

According to source, 17 fighters were killed and an unknown number more wounded in the airstrike.

Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, said the strike targeted civilian population, destroying numerous houses.

Besides injuring a man and a woman, several cattleheads were also eliminated in the airstrike while there was no damage to the Taliban, he said.

In another air strike, the ANA spokesman said, six Taliban were killed in the Dand Shahabuddin Khelazi area of Baghlan province.

In Chahardara district, Kunduz province, security forces launched winter operation, said Ghulam Hazrat Karimi, ANA spokesman in Kunduz.

Backed by air support, the operation “Pameer-17” would eliminate Taliban bases and bunkers in the district, he said, adding four gunmen have so far been killed and numerous more wounded in the operation.

Meanwhile, local residents feared that the operation would force them to leave their houses in this biting cold.