Local officials in central Ghazni province said that fresh waves of violence have been gripping various regions of the province over the past 24 hours following intense battles between the Afghan forces and the Taliban outfits in the area.

They said that the Afghan Special Forces have dealt a major blow the Taliban fighters in Asfandah village in the suburb of the city where a key Taliban commander originally from Pakistan was also eliminated during the battles with the Afghan forces.

Afghan forces said that they had discovered the Pakistani identity card from the pocket of the Taliban commander.

“We did not transfer other dead bodies, we only transferred the dead body of this Pakistani officer and you can take footage of him that the Pakistani officers also take part in these operations,” said Mohammad Naser Alizai, Deputy Commander of Afghan Commando Forces.

Violence has dramatically increased in Ghazni province over the past two months with the foreign militants fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Taliban in the key province.

According to local officials, up to 40 security force members and 30 civilians so far have been killed during the violence.

“Overall, 500 operations, including clearance operations and aerial operations by the coalition and Afghan forces were carried out since the month of Hamal (March),” said Arif Noori, spokesman to Ghazni governor.

Despite these reports, roads in many areas of the province remained close to traffic, including a short closure of Kabul-Kandahar Highway in recent days, where the Taliban installed checkpoints and searched passengers.

Back in August 2018, the Taliban insurgents backed by the foreign militants launched a coordinated attack on Ghazni city from four directions and seized some parts of the city for several days.