In this Sunday, July 31 2011 file photo, Taliban fighters hold their heavy and light weapons before surrendering them to Afghan authorities in Jalalabad, east of Kabul
A total of 18 people including 11 Afghan soldiers lost their lives as a military convoy came under attack by militants in the western province of Herat on Sunday, the Defense Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
“A group of terrorists ambushed a military convoy in Karukh district, Herat province Sunday evening which triggered gun battle during which 18 people including 11 soldiers and seven militants were killed,” the statement declared. Five more militants sustained injuries during the firefight.
Earlier a private television channel Tolo reported in its news bulletin that the militancy convoy was on way to neighboring Badghis province when it came under attack leaving 11 soldiers dead and injuring six others.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Herat provincial government Ehsanullah Hayat, in talks with media, confirmed the ambush on the military convoy and put the attack on the enemies of peace, a reference to the Taliban.
In another development which occurred in Herat’s neighboring Kandahar province also on Sunday, an army helicopter made a hard landing in Naw Abad locality of Maiwand district leaving two servicemen dead, an official who declined to be identified said.
However, Samim Khpalwak, the spokesman for Kandahar provincial government, confirmed the incident, adding an investigation into the case has been initiated and details will be made public after completion.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for downing the chopper, a claim utterly rejected by Khpalwak as groundless.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since April 24 when the armed outfit launched its annual spring offensive in Afghanistan, and since then hundreds of people including militants, security personnel and civilians have been killed.
Sediq Sediqi, the spokesman for Afghan Interior Ministry and Dawlat Waziri, the spokesman for Defense Ministry, at a joint press conference yesterday categorically stated that the country’s security forces are capable enough of crushing the Taliban and associated militants across the country. Xinhua
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