Bala Murghab District once again ‘falls to Taliban’

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Taliban has once again overrun Bala Murghab district in the northwestern Badghis province nearly one month after the area was retaken by Afghan forces following a 10-day clash late in April. Bala Murghab is a strategic district in Badghis province, surrounded by some other volatile districts such as Ab Kamari, Muqur, Jawand, and Qadis.

Last time, Bala Murghab came under Taliban attack late in April and early in March and was under siege for more than two weeks, leaving more than two dozens of security forces dead and almost 28 of them gone missing. Ziauddin Akazai, an MP from Badghis, said on Thursday that the district police headquarters, the main bazaar of Bala Murghab and the building of the district governor have fallen to the Taliban.

According to him, at least 10 security force members were killed and 11 others were wounded in the Taliban’s attacks, which according to him started early on Thursday.  He said government forces control only an army base on the outskirts of the district’s center. He said the security forces will suffer “severe casualties” if reinforcements are not deployed to the area.

Local officials, however, denied commenting on the issue. In the meantime, National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a statement that at least 62 fighters of Taliban’s so-called ‘red division’ were killed in security forces operations in central Maidan Wardak province on Thursday night. The statement says that eight commanders of the Taliban’s red division were among those killed. (Tolo News)