Afghan forces kill 70 Taliban commanders

Ministry of Interior Affairs has informed that as many as 70 Taliban commanders have been killed in Helmand and Kandahar provinces by the Afghan forces in retaliatory attacks within a month.

Kabul: The Ministry of Interior Affairs on Sunday released a list of 70 Taliban commanders killed in Afghanistan's war-torn provinces of Helmand and Kandahar in operations carried out by Afghan forces in response to attacks by the group that started more than a month ago, reported TOLO News.

Presenting the list to reporters, Interior Affairs Ministry's spokesman Tariq Arian also said that 152 Pakistani fighters were killed in Helmand province.

Read:|12 Taliban insurgents killed in Afghanistan's Uruzgan

According to the ministry, 20 of the Taliban commanders belonged from various parts of Helmand and were leading groups of 45-100 members.

Rahmatullah, Habibullah, Mawlawi Musa Jan, Qari Mohammad, Rohullah, Mullah Nek Mohammad, Atiqullah, Mullah Sardar, Mullah Anargul, Wali Mohammad, Mullah Idris, Mullah Samad, Sharifullah, Mullah Mohammad Isa and Mullah Amanullah are the Taliban commanders killed in Helmand, according to the data.

The list also described that 10 commanders killed in Helmand came from Uruzgan, Kandahar and Ghazni to help their fighters in Helmand.

These 10 commanders include Mullah Mohibullah, Mullah Shah Wali, Mullah Ishaq, Abdul Rahman, Mullah Payenda, Mullah Baridad, Mullah Juma Gul, Mullah Mustafa, Mullah Amanullah, Mullah Khairkhwah, Mullah Toryalai, Ejaz-Ul-Haq, and Badri Janan.

Meanwhile, the data showed 40 commanders that were killed in Kandahar, which include Mawlawi Munir, Mullah Saifuddin, Mullah Sazuddin, Qari Labib, Mullah Talib, Mullah Sediq, Abdul Latif, Isa Mohammad, Noorullah, Ainuddin, Musa, Abdul Waris, Mullah Abdullah, Sardar Mohammad among others reported TOLO News.

At least 30 Taliban commanders were wounded in Helmand clashes, Arian said, adding that Taliban attacks were repelled by Afghan forces in Helmand, Kandahar, and other southern provinces under the active defence framework.

Read:|14 killed as Afghan forces retake military base in Kunduz

Although clashes are ongoing in southern provinces, Arian said that the Taliban has been defeated in the provinces.

Arian said that at least 134 civilians were killed and 289 more were wounded in Taliban attacks in the last 25 days.

ANI