KABUL: Afghan security forces have recaptured a city in south-eastern Paktia province from the Taliban, officials said on Friday.
The city of Jani Khel had fallen to Taliban insurgents on July 25.
“After seven days of heavy fight, Afghan security forces managed to take control of Jani Khel early on Friday morning,” the spokesman for Paktia’s governnment, Abdullah Hasrat, said.
The fighting was supported by US air strikes, Hasrat said.
According to him, Afghan security forces killed 152 insurgents and injured 123 others.
On the government side, nine Afghan security force members were killed and 15 were wounded.
The figures could not immediately be verified independently. All stakeholders in the conflict have been known to tweak casualty figures in their favour.
Confirming the recapture of Jani Khel, a provincial council member, Allah Mir Khan Bahramzoi, said, “We have received reports of 15 civilian wounded and around 250 families displaced.”
In recent weeks, the Taliban have been increasing their attacks on towns and cities across the country.
Cities have been attacked in Kunduz and Baghlan provinces in Afghanistan’s north, Badakhshan in the north-east, Ghor in the centre, Helmand, Kandahar in the south and Paktia in the south-east.
At least five people were killed after Taliban militants attacked a money exchange market in Helmand province early Friday morning, locals and officials said. — dpa
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