AFGHANISTAN. Helmand: Days after the US army handed over the Camp Antonik base to the Afghan army’s 215 Maiwand Corps on May 2 in Helmand, the Defense Ministry has decided to use it as a base for Afghan special forces. According to the Defense Ministry, over 180 members of the Taliban and 20 Afghan security forces were killed in the recent clashes for the past days.
Fawad Aman, the spokesman for the defense ministry said, “181 #Taliban terrorists were killed and 87 others were wounded in Laghman, Ghazni, Kandahar, Zabul, Herat, Helmand and Baghlan provinces during 24 past hours in ANDSF operation. Also, 94 #IEDs which were placed by Taliban on public roads were discovered and defused by #ANA.”
On Tuesday, Helmand officials reported to have killed 110 fighters of the Taliban and their chief in Lashkargah.
“110 Taliban killed and 37 others wounded in the Afghan air raids and clashes between the two sides in Nahr-e-Saraj, Nawa, Garmsir, and Washer districts of the Helmand, ” Helmand police said, adding that Mawlawi Rahmuddin, chief of the group for Lashkargah was also among the corpses.
The Defense Ministry said that 22 members of the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent were also killed in operations by Afghan forces in Helmand over the last 24 hours.
The officials added 20 Afghan security forces were also killed in the clashes with the Taliban in seven provinces of Afghanistan. Baghlan, Helmand, Zabul, Oruzgan, Fariyab, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Takhar, Ghazni, Logar, and Balkh have suffered due to heavy clashes between the government and the Taliban.
According to the officials, nine soldiers were killed, and 16 others were abducted by the Taliban.
Earlier this week, a car bomb attack targeted a hotel in Logar province that killed over 20 civilians. Mostly students who were preparing for the upcoming university entrance exams were killed.
Meanwhile, the Taliban spokesman and their website have made no comments on the aftermath of these clashes.
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“It is going to end the US and the coalition involvement in that war militarily,” he said.
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