Taliban insurgents launched an assault on Kunduz on Monday, triggering intense fighting and forcing residents to hide in their homes, one year after the militants briefly took control of the strategic Afghan city.
Government helicopters were targeting gunmen from the air in a bid to repel the attack, a day before President Ashraf Ghani is due to meet world powers at a major donors conference in Brussels.
“We are very hungry and we do not have access to food at the moment. The city is deserted, the shops are closed… The whole city is surrounded by the Taliban,” said 28-year-old Kunduz resident Abdullah.
“Since early morning we’ve been trapped inside our houses, we can not move out to buy bread for our breakfast.”
Mahmood Danish, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor told AFP Taliban militants had begun attacking the city from four directions before dawn.
“The Taliban are using civilian houses as shelters,” he said, adding there were militants in the southern part of the city, including near Kunduz regional hospital.
He said government forces were deployed across the city, including in the air, and had driven militants out of one district.
A Taliban spokesman said insurgents had killed multiple soldiers and were making “rapid” progress.
“Early today, our mujahideen launched an offensive on the city of Kunduz from four directions,” Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
“We also captured four key police checkpoints. Now, the mujahideen have entered Seh Darak, Pukhti Maidan and Speen Zar Chaman of Kunduz city.
“We are making rapid advances; a number of enemy forces were killed and wounded, and the rest are on the verge of fleeing and are flustered.”
The attack comes just over a year after the Taliban overran Kunduz, the only provincial capital to have fallen into their hands since they were ousted from power in 2001.
Government control of the city has been shaky ever since.
Source: AFP
