Roundup: Militancy gets momentum as Taliban starts spring offensive

Militancy and conflicts have intensified in the conflict-ridden Afghanistan as Taliban militants kicked off their so-called annual spring offensives in parts of the country.

The hardliner militant group, according to police, launched a series of attacks on government interests in the eastern Kunar province on Wednesday but retreated after leaving behind 13 dead bodies on the ground.

"Taliban fighters launched coordinated attacks on security checkpoints in Shigal, Ghazi Abad, Marawara and Sarkano districts at 04:00 a.m. local time today, triggering gun battle but fled away after suffering 13 dead and leaving the bodies behind on the ground," Kunar province police chief Abdul Habib Sayedkhil told Xinhua.

About 17 more militants have been injured in the fighting lasted for a few hours, the official asserted.

However, the official confirmed that two police and one civilians sustained injuries during the firefight in the said districts.

Meantime, hospital sources in Kunar provincial capital Assadabad told Xinhua that eight injured persons including three civilians and five police had been taken to hospital for medical treatment.

Taliban militants, according to police, came in contact with security forces in Aqcha and Faizabad districts of the northern Jauzjan province since launching their spring offensive on Tuesday but retreated after losing two fighters and injuring 16 others.

"Two Taliban rebels have been killed and 16 others injured in Aqcha and Faizabad districts since Tuesday," deputy to provincial police chief of Jauzjan, Abdul Hafiz Khashi told Xinhua on Wednesday.

Three civilians also sustained injuries during the fighting, the official asserted.

Moreover, an army spokesman in the northern Kunduz province, Nasratullah Jamshidi in talks with Xinhua reported killing 21 armed Taliban and injuring 35 others over the past two days.

Similarly, the security forces have killed a deputy to Taliban shadowy district governor and injuring two others in Kunduz neighboring Baghlan province on Wednesday, Baghlan provincial governor Abdul Sattar Bariz told reporters.

Meanwhile, Taliban outfit, which launched its so-called annual spring offensive code name "Operation Omari" on April 12, in an online statement, claimed launching several offensives and inflicting casualties on government forces in Kunar, Jauzjan, Baghlan, Kunduz and other parts of the country.

Meantime, Afghan chief of army staff General Qadam Shah Shahem has termed Taliban annual spring offensive "merely propaganda" and said that the national security forces are capable enough to foil militants' designs elsewhere in the country. Enditem