Afghan families flee as Taleban take key northern district

In this March 20, 2017 file photo, Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand guard while people wait for the opening of the border crossing in Chaman, Pakistan. — AP

QUETTA, Pakistan: The Pakistani army says it has destroyed at least five Afghan checkpoints near the border between the two countries, killing about 50 security forces. Maj Gen Nadeem Ahmad told reporters yesterday at the Chaman border crossing that two of his soldiers were also killed and another nine were wounded. The Pakistani and Afghan armies have been clashing at the border crossing in southwestern Baluchistan province since Friday.

Officials in Islamabad say the fighting began after Afghan security forces fired on Pakistani census workers and the troops escorting them, killing nine civilians and wounding 42, including women and children. Pakistan and Afghanistan routinely accuse each other of providing sanctuaries to their  enemy insurgents - which both sides deny.

Hundreds of Afghan families have fled fighting between the Taleban and government forces near the northern city of Kunduz as the insurgents captured a strategic district soon after launching their annual spring offensive. The militants began their assault on the Qala-e-Zal district in Kunduz province on Saturday and captured most of it including the district centre. The attack triggered intense fighting with government forces that sent civilians fleeing toward the provincial capital of Kunduz. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which has offices in Kunduz, said in a  statement that some families were forced to sleep in the open while others moved into the homes of relatives.

"Around 2.30 am Taleban fighters came to our houses and asked us to evacuate. They told us not to make any sound. We were all afraid," said Abdul Karim, 31 who fled Qala-e Zal with his family to Kunduz city, according to the statement.

"Taleban fighters were shooting from one side of our house and the Afghan National Security Forces from the other side. A rocket landed in my garden. My wife told me that if I didn't flee, she would leave the house alone with our two daughters," said another resident, 29-year-old  Rahman Gerdi. Mahfuzullah Akbari, a government spokesman, said Afghan forces retreated from the district to avoid civilian casualties while a Taliban spokesman said in a statement they had forced them out.

"We have launched an operation to retake the district," Akbari told AFP.  On April 28 the Taleban launched their "spring offensive", heralding a surge in fighting as the US tries to craft a new Afghan strategy and NATO considers sending more troops to break the stalemate against the resurgent militants.

The annual spring offensive normally marks the start of the fighting season, though this winter the Taleban continued to battle government forces.  An attack on a military base in the neighboring city of Mazar-i-Sharif left at least 135 soldiers dead earlier last month.

The militants also claimed to have captured Sangin district in the volatile southern province of Helmand in March, underscoring their growing strength. The Taleban briefly seized Kunduz city in September 2015 in their biggest victory since they were toppled from national power by a US-led invasion in 2001. They were able briefly to re-enter the city centre in October 2016 before once again being pushed back. -Agencies