Taliban seize Af city, first since ouster in 2011; free prisoners
Kunduz (Afghanistan):
AFP
The Taliban on Monday largely seized a major Afghan city, storming government compounds and sending panicked residents fleeing, as he Islamists for the first time breached a provincial capital since being ousted rom power in 2001.
Fierce fighting raged in he northern city of Kunduz as marauding insurgents reed hundreds of prisoners rom the local jail, set government buildings on fire and hoisted their trademark white flag over the homes of officials.
The Taliban's incursion nto Kunduz barely nine months after the Nato combat mission ended marks a major psychological blow to the country's Western-trained security forces.
“The Taliban have taken the city but our forces are still putting up resistance in some areas,“ Kunduz police spokesman Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said, adding that promised reinforcements from Kabul were awaited.
Scores of bodies littered the streets after hours of heavy fighting, Afghan media reported citing local residents, many of whom were making a hasty exit from Kunduz. Many were fleeing to the city's main airport, which is still in government control, but some complained they were being turned away by security forces.
The city was swarming with Taliban fighters ra cing police vehicles, who overran the governor's compound and the local police headquarters. The local headquarters of the National Directorate of Security , the country's main intelligence agency , was set on fire, a security official said on condition of anonymity .
Saad Mukhtar, head of a 200-bed government hospital, said the Taliban had control of the building and were hunting for wounded Afghan troops.
“Yes, the enemy is in the city and they have taken over the prison and other buildings, but reinforcements will be deployed and the city will be taken back,“ interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
