Local officials confirmed early Thursday that clashes between government forces and Taliban insurgents have resumed in Farah city after insurgent’s attacked security forces on Wednesday night.
The officials said Taliban insurgents are hiding in civilian houses.
They confirmed three suicide bombers detonated explosives close to police headquarters and government buildings.
Residents have meanwhile said Taliban insurgents started clashes with government forces on Wednesday night close to the police headquarters building. The residents said currently insurgents are also in clashes with forces in other parts of the city.
The residents added that insurgents have targeted the house of a member of the provincial council.
“The Afghan and foreign air forces have also targeted the insurgents,” residents said.
Early Tuesday, Taliban insurgents attacked Farah city. Twenty five security force members were killed in a day-long battle.
But on Wednesday morning, provincial governor Basir Salangi told TOLOnews that about 300 insurgents had been killed in the clashes which started when about 2,000 Taliban attacked the city.
“First 1,000 Taliban insurgents attacked Farah districts on Tuesday and after the first attack over 1,000 other insurgents also joined the attack,” he said.
The Taliban gathered the insurgents from Helmand, Herat, Ghor and Zabul provinces to launch the large-scale attack on the city, but security forces defended the city including the National Directorate of Security (NDS) department, police headquarters, and Farah city hospital and pushed them back after reinforcements arrived.
Residents said the Taliban had been pushed back from the city, but they were in Shir Koh, Pesht Koh districts and Regi area of the city.
Salangi said security forces will continue their operations to destroy the insurgents in the province.
On Wednesday night, NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan said security forces played a key role in pushing back the Taliban from Farah city.
The security forces were supported by the US Air Force, including US Air Force A-10 aircrafts, said NATO’s RS spokesman Martin O’Donnell.
According to RS, the Afghan Air Force (AAF) and the commando division also played an effective role in forcing the Taliban to retreat.
“Farah remains under the Afghan government’s control, the Afghans remain in the lead of operations there, you have got the 207th corps commander who is leading the operation and orchestrating it and its combined arms fight that the Afghans are leading. You have got the Afghan army, the police, commandos and the Afghan air force, in-fact the Afghan air force has conducted the most strikes on targets,” O'Donnell said.
On the involvement of US troops in the operation he said: “We are providing advice to not only that combined arms fight, but then also with the commandos and then we are also providing some air power.”
The Ministry of Defense has admitted that the cities of Farah, Faizabad, Trinkot, Kunduz, Maimana and Pul-e-Khumri are under pressure by the Taliban but said government forces are ready to defend these cities.
Twenty-two security force members were meanwhile killed in heavy clashes with the Taliban in two districts of central Ghazni province on Wednesday, members of the provincial council confirmed on Wednesday.
In addition, five other security force members were wounded.
“Yes. As you said a few cities are under pressure. But remember that cities are safe. We have carried out 14 military operations today which are in districts not in cities,” Defense Ministry deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said at a press conference on Wednesday.