Over 100 Killed as Afghan Forces, Taliban Attack Each Other

Taliban kills 29 police and soldiers in Farah Province Fighting

With fighting on the rise nationwide, the Afghan military and the Taliban both launched a flurry of offensives on Friday, leaving over 100 fighters killed across Afghanistan, and a number of sites overrun.

Taliban offensives and coordinated attacks hit four provinces, with the largest in Farah Province, where a raid led to a multi-hour gunbattle that left 29 police and soldiers killed. 37 security forces were reported killed overall, and a number of others wounded.

Afghan forces carried out a flurry of strikes and offensives in 10 different provinces of their own, with at least 12 airstrikes by Afghan Air Forces across the country, hitting what were described as “insurgent strongholds and hide-outs.”

Afghan Defense Ministry statements claimed 67 were killed in their strikes, all of them “insurgents,” and another 28 were wounded. They added that a number of weapons belonging to the Taliban have been destroyed in the process.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.