Taliban fighters during Operation al-Khandagh
On November 14, Taliban fighters stormed a military base and a checkpoint of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) in the district of Qalay-I-Zal in the northern province of Kunduz.
According to the Taliban official news agency, Voice of Jihad, 26 personnel of the ANA and the ANP were killed and many others were injured in the attack. An armored vehicle was also destroyed by the Afghan group’s fighters.
The Taliban said that the attack in Qalay-I-Zal was a part of its spring offensive, codenamed “Operation al-Khandagh”, which was launched on April 25 in response to Washington’s decision to increase the US military presence in Afghanistan.
Last week, 11 Afghan policemen were supposedly killed in a similar attack by the Taliban in the northern province of Badghis. These attacks are a part of the Afghan group’s plan to expand its control in the northern part of the war torn country.
