Afghan authorities say a day-long gun battle between the Taliban and security forces in northern Afghanistan, which left several troops dead, has ended. The deadly clash broke out earlier on Sunday following the seizure of an army recruiting center. Four armed militants wearing vests wired with explosives stormed the recruiting center in Konduz Province, killing 27 security personnel.
“The fighting is over,” Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP in the capital, Kabul.
Security officials in Konduz say troops managed to kill two of the attackers while another pair occupied the facility throughout the day.
Bashary said the remaining two rebels had been gunned down by Afghan security forces, but did not elaborate on the operation.
In a separate attack, gunmen ambushed an army bus outside the country’s main recruitment center on the outskirts of Kabul.
Meanwhile a Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statemen over the attacks of Kabul and Kunduz saying, “A team of 2 Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate,Abdullah and Hanzallah, attacked the puppets of ANA along Kabul-Jalalabad road attacked two buses packed with puppet army soldiers, one of whom after getting on one of the bases and shooting and killing several puppets got martyred in cross-fire, whereas the other continued to battle for about fours killing as many as 13 puppets and wounding 8 more with one of the enemy’s bases burned down , nevertheless, the Mujahideen laid down his after a four-long firefight and embraced martyrdom.
At the same time, the as many as 19 puppets army soldiers and officers were killed in martyrdom operation in Kunduz city in the morning hours of the day.”
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack as “criminal,” stressing that “the attacks were a major and unforgiving crime… [by] Afghanistan’s enemies opposing the strengthening of Afghan security forces.”
Source: Press TV & agencies