MoI confirms at least 70 police killed in Ghazni attack

Minister of defense Tariq Shah Bahrami and minister of interior Wais Ahmad Barmak on Monday held a press conference on the Ghazni situation – stating that at least 70 police soldiers alone had been killed in the past four days.
The defense minister also stated that Pakistani, Chechen and Arab fighters had been fighting alongside the Taliban who launched their attack on Ghazni city in the early hours of Friday morning.
On the death toll, Bahrami said that 194 insurgents had so far been killed. He also noted that at least 20 civilians had also been killed as a result of the fighting.
He said an extra 1,000 troops have been sent to Ghazni city to fully bring the situation under control.
Bahrami acknowledged that there had been some shortcomings from a security point of view but that they soon mobilized troops from neighboring provinces to help repel the insurgents.
“Security forces were mobilized from surrounding provinces to help repel the Taliban attack on Ghazni. Senior officials are in Ghazni including the army chief of staff,” said Bahrami.
According to him, 50 commandos reported missing earlier in the day had been accounted for. He said by mid-afternoon, 35 had withdrawn to neighboring Daikundi province and the rest were on their way.
He said Ghazni will see a major turnaround for the better within the next 24 hours.
Interior Minister Wais Barmak meanwhile said security forces have started recovering the bodies of fallen soldiers in Ghazni.
Barmak rejected all claims made by the Taliban that the group had taken control of key government facilities and said everything was under the control of government.
According to him, the chief of army staff, an MoI deputy and an NDS deputy are leading the operation. He reiterated that Ghazni was completely under government control.
Barmak said the situation has changed (for the better) and everything in the city is under government control – including the prison. He said operations were slow, so as to prevent civilian casualties. According to Barmak, government is working hard to get humanitarian aid into the city but says insurgents are using residents as human shields and they are hiding in civilian homes and in mosques.
Barmak said that an estimated 70 police soldiers have been killed in the past four days in Ghazni. This comes as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Afghanistan said they had received reports of a number of civilian casualties in the ongoing battle in Ghazni city.
According to the statement:“ Residents of Ghazni City have seen their city turn into a battlefield since Friday morning, with fighting and clashes reportedly still ongoing.
“We have received initial reports of a number of civilian casualties and of people trying to reach safe areas outside of the city,” said Rik Peeperkorn, acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan.