The Taliban carried out a terror strike in Afghanistan’s Kunduz and Badakhshan provinces on Monday (13 July), which led to the death of twelve policemen and four civilians along with eleven insurgents who also died reported, Outlook. The Taliban militants stormed into Imam Sahib district in Kunduz on Sunday night resulting in five police officers and four civilians getting killed, while eight people were injured.
Yousuf Ayoubi, a member of the provincial council, told Xinhua news agency that several dozens of militants tried to overrun the police station and local government offices, he said. “The clashes continued until early Monday and security forces repelled the attackers and the Taliban insurgents were forced back from the district after at least six militants were killed and several others wounded,” the source added.
In neighbouring Badakhshan, seven policemen and five Taliban terrorists were killed and two police injured after the Taliban attacked a security checkpoint in Arghanjkhwa district, according to a provincial government spokesman. It has been reported that several fighters were foreigners who attacked the key checkpoint in the mountainous district. The provinces of Kunduz and Badakhshan have seen many heavy clashes between Taliban and security forces for years. After the Taliban and the US signed a peace deal that required the Taliban will not attack the US forces. However, the Taliban has not stopped its violence against the Afghan people and the security forces. President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has frequently demanded the Taliban to reduce violence.
Recently, on Sunday, the Taliban attacked checkpoints in the northern Kunduz province, killing at least 14 Afghan security forces, according to Esmatullah Muradi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Following this, an attack was followed on Monday where Taliban insurgents launched a complex attack on an intelligence compound in northern Afghanistan that began with a suicide bombing which killed at least 11 intelligence agency personnel, officials said to The Associated Press. The attack took place in Aybak, the capital of the Samangan province. Sediq Azizi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said another 63 people were wounded in the attack and the ensuing clashes.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased in this war-torn country. The attacks have only intensified after the peace deal was signed in Doha Qatar in February. On Wednesday (8 July), Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in a statement had said the peace process will be decided by the people of Afganistan.