The Taliban militants have launched coordinated attacks on the suburbs of Pul-e-Khumri, capital city of the northern Baghlan province, local officials said.
Jawid Besharat, spokesperson for Baghlan police chief, said that the Taliban militants wanted to attack Pul-e-Khumri at 5:00 AM today’s morning from Karkar area, located in the suburb of the city.
As many as 20 Taliban fighters are involved in the attacks and the Afghan security forces have already launched counterattacks to repel the militants, local officials say.
Mr. Besharat underlines that Afghan security forces have arrested two Taliban militants.
Meanwhile, Nasrat Rahimi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, said that Afghan special police forces were deployed to the areas, assuring that the city will not become under the attacks.
According to Rahimi, the Taliban have taken position in two different locations outside of the city to launch attacks on Pul-e-Khumri.
On the other hand, the Taliban said in a statement that they had launched attacks from four different directions on the city.
The militant group further claimed that all security outposts in the outskirts of the city were fallen and they had captured several key areas in the city, including Pul-e-Khumri.
The statement also said that several government forces were killed in the attacks and they had reached in the city center, close to the governor office.
The attacks come a day after the militants launched large scale attacks on Kunduz city which is a neighboring province to Baghlan.
