Taluqan
Five civilians including children were killed and eight others injured as a mortar mine struck a residential area in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz city on Monday morning, provincial government spokesman Esmatullah Muradi said.
The official said Taliban militants fired the mortar mine which hit a residential area in the Zakhil village of Kunduz city, killing five civilians including women and children and injuring eight others.
Taliban militants who have been mounting pressure around Kunduz city, the capital of Kunduz province, 250 km north of the national capital Kabul, have not yet made comment on the incident.
The incident marked the second attack since Monday morning that claimed the lives of non-combatants including women and children.
Earlier in the day, an attack took place in Ahmad Abad district of the eastern Paktia province, killing five civilians including a woman, two children, two men and injuring four others.
Afghan government forces in an overnight counter-offensive have recaptured two districts in the northern Takhar province, an army spokesman in the northern region, Abdul Hadi Nazari said Monday.
‘The security forces launched a counter-offensive early Monday in Khawja Ghar and Bangi districts and have regained control of them, forcing the insurgents to flee,’ Nazari told Xinhua.
Without providing more details, the official said the government forces are in control of both the restive districts.
The Taliban militants have overrun a number of districts in the northern Takhar province and have been mounting pressure on Takhar’s provincial capital Taluqan city. The militant group has not made comment on the report yet.—AFP
