Afghanistan: Taliban kills 17 soldiers while taking control of Army base in Faryab province

The Taliban on Tuesday killed 17 soldiers while it took control of a large portion of an Army base in northern Afghanistan’s Faryab province, reports said. Meanwhile, the militant group and the country’s forces have been battling for five consecutive days in the eastern provincial capital of Ghazni, reported AP.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed said 19 soldiers were wounded in Tuesday’s attack on the base in Ghormanch district. The troops are trying to regain control of Ghazni city, officials told Reuters.

The Army base, known as Camp Chinaya, accommodated 140 Afghan troops. Local provincial council chief Mohammad Tahir Rahmani said that the base was overrun after the soldiers ran out of ammunition, food, and water, reported AP. “We have not been able to enter the base,” Reuters quoted Rahmani as saying. “Large parts of the base are still under the Taliban control.”

“It is a tragedy that the base fell to the enemy,” army spokesperson for northern Afghanistan Mohammad Hanif Rezaee told AFP. “Some soldiers were killed, some captured and some fled to nearby hills.”

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, reported AP. He claimed that 57 Afghan soldiers had surrendered to the Taliban, while 17 were captured.

In Ghazi, several residents claimed that the Taliban had withdrawn from many areas in the city after setting government buildings on fire on Tuesday, reported Tolo News. The battle was being fought in Asfanda, Noghi, and around the Khoghyani district on the outskirts of the city, said residents.

On Monday, the Afghanistan government said that at least 70 police personnel and 20 civilians were killed within four days of its confrontation with the militant group. Afghan Defence Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami said several insurgents were also killed in the fighting, Tolo News reported.