Over 1500 insurgents killed in last one week, says Afghanistan General

Kabul [Afghanistan] July 27(ANI): Over 1520 Taliban insurgents were killed and more than 800 injured in a total of 154 military operations conducted over the last one week, Afghanistan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) said.

ANDSF spokesperson General Ajaml Omar Shinwarai said a total of 1,528 insurgents were killed during operations conducted in 20 provinces. Sixteen militants were also taken hostages, Shinwarai said as reported by The Khaama Press. The Aghan defence operations included land operations, airstrikes, and artillery shells. The ANDSF spokesperson has also accused the Taliban of killing 14 civilians and injuring nearly 30 more during the previous week, The Khaama Press reported.

“The forces have been out of defensive stance and are currently in an offensive one. During the operations conducted in 20 provinces, 16 terrorists were taken hostages,” he added. General Shinwarai also informed that a large number of ANDSF operations were suspended in order to prevent civilian casualties in the country.

Shinwarai’s remarks on civilian causalities came soon after the United Nations warned that without a significant de-escalation in violence, Afghanistan is on course for 2021 to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) records began.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 reached record levels with over 1,659 people killed and 3,254 others wounded, according to a UN agency.

The rise is mainly due to a spike in violence in May that corresponded with the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

The UNAMA’s Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Midyear Update 2021 documents 5,183 civilian casualties, a 47 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2020.

The Taliban in a statement reacted to the number and dubbed it one-sided. (ANI)