Afghan security forces repel Taliban in Kunduz fighting: officials

PanARMENIAN.Net - Afghan security forces drove back Taliban insurgents attacking areas around the northern city of Kunduz, officials said on Saturday, April 16, after heavy fighting overnight in which dozens were killed and wounded, Reuters reports.

Kunduz, Afghanistan's fifth biggest city, fell briefly to the Taliban last year and the militant Islamist movement has stepped up the pressure since announcing the start of its annual spring offensive this week.

Defense Ministry spokesman General Dawlat Waziri said 40 Taliban fighters had been killed and around 50 wounded after being beaten back by government forces. There were no details about any possible casualties among Afghan security forces.

U.S. surveillance aircraft were supporting Afghan security forces but there were no air strikes or other involvement by coalition forces in the fighting, a spokesman for the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said.

The Kunduz provincial government said fighting was concentrated in Khanabad and Chardara districts and the villages of Charkh Ab and Talawka, and that 28 Taliban fighters had been killed and 38 wounded.

It said in a statement from its media office that Afghan and foreign forces had taken part in the operation but gave no detail beyond saying that weapons and ammunition had been captured from the insurgents.

Saad Mukhtar, head of the public health department in Kunduz, said six dead and 87 wounded, including children, had been taken to hospitals in Kunduz so far.