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Roundup: Afghan gov't forces recapture Kunduz city, Taliban runaway with huge casualties

Xinhua, October 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

Afghan government recaptured the northern Kunduz city on Wednesday, forcing Taliban militants to retreat to their former bases, a senior police official said.

"Taliban rebels after suffering huge casualties and leaving scores of dead bodies behind fled Kunduz city on Wednesday and the whole city is in control of the government forces at the moment," the official Mahfozullah Akbari told Xinhua.

Taliban militants in a surprise mover overrun major parts of Kunduz city on Oct. 3, prompting government forces to launch counter-offensive.

"More than 200 Taliban rebels have been killed and more than 300 others sustained injuries since the government forces launched counter-offensive to dislodge militants from the city," the official said, claiming that scores of the dead bodies of the Taliban fighters were lying on the streets and the fleeing militants were unable to take their bodies.

According to the official, more than 20 police personnel have been killed and 45 others injured since Taliban onslaught on Kunduz city and counter-offensive to flash out militants.

Taliban militants are yet to make comment on the situation there in Kunduz city.

However, Akbari avoided commenting on casualties of civilians and national army personnel over the past nine days of bloody fighting for the control of Kunduz, 250 km north of Kabul.

Normalcy has been returning to the war-ravaged city and those escaped the war are gradually returning to their homes, Akbari said.

Nevertheless, he added the presence of mines planted by fleeing militants on some residential areas has slowed down the return of families to their houses.

Meantime, head of Kunduz provincial health department Abdul Hamid Alam has confirmed that 342 injured people had been taken to hospitals for medical treatments, including civilians and military personnel, some of them in critical conditions.

More than 22,000 families left Kunduz city for safer places in the wake of Taliban attack on Kunduz city and have relocated to Takhar, Samangan, Balkh, Kabul and other parts of the country, head of Refugees Department in Kunduz province Sayed Abdul Salam Hashimi told Xinhua. Enditem