At least 20 Afghan security force members and five civilians were killed and 80 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in Taliban attack on the city of Kunduz which continued for more than 24 hours, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Sunday.
The clashes left 56 Taliban fighters dead, the statement said. Taliban has not commented on their casualties in Kunduz battle.
The city of Kunduz came under attack for the third time in the last five years. The militants attacked the city from three directions at around 1:30 am on Saturday, according to Interior Ministry.
The statement said that the situation was back to normal in the city as the special units of the NDS, Army, and Police cleared all embattled areas of Taliban.
“The city is fully cleared of insurgents and is under control,” a spokesman for Ministry of Interior, Nusrat Rahimi, said in a tweet on Sunday morning.
The clashes continued for more than 24 hours on the outskirts of Kunduz city, but a heavy explosion happened near the main roundabout in the city on Saturday evening, leaving 10 people dead.
The blast targeted a gathering of local security leadership, including the provincial police chief, his media team, the security officer and other security authorities.
Colonel Sarwar Hussaini, 36, a spokesman for Kunduz police, was killed in the blast, according to Ministry of Interior.
The acting ministers of Defense and Interior – Assadullah Khalid and Massoud Andarabi – and US and NATO forces commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller visited Kunduz following the Taliban attack.
A day after Kunduz, the Taliban militants attacked Pul-e-Khumri city, the center of the northern province of Baghlan, on Sunday morning. Reports indicate that clashes are ongoing on the outskirts of the city.
Residents and sources said that the Kabul-Mazar highway is closed due to ongoing clashes in Baghlan.
“A group 30 or 40 Taliban fighters are involved in the attack but they are surrounded by the security forces and their attack has been repelled,” the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
“Three militants were killed and five others were wounded while two others were detained by security forces,” the statement said.
The statement said there are no civilian and security forces casualties in Baghlan clashes and that special forces have been deployed to the area.
Taliban, meanwhile, claimed that Afghan forces suffered casualties in the clashes.
This comes as the US and the Taliban wrapped up the ninth round of talks in Doha in which the militant group is pushing for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
