A two day, round-the-clock battle is underway in Gizab district of Uruzgan, and has claimed 20 Afghan security force troops and at least 18 Taliban fighters, provincial police reported Monday.

Local officials said that clashes are ongoing 5 km away from the district governor’s compound and police headquarters.

Khetab Khanjari, the provincial police chief, said that Afghan security force commandos were deployed by air on Sunday and seven of them have been killed, along with eight regular security force troops and five police. “At least 18 Taliban were killed, and 22 others were wounded in the past 48 hours,” he said.

Khanjari claimed that the Taliban had already “taken heavy casualties” before the recent flare-up,  referring to previous fighting in the area that started over two weeks ago.