The National Resistance Front (NRF), an anti-Taliban group, said Saturday in a tweet that its forces have pushed back the Taliban’s attack on their base in the northeast Chal district of Takhar province amid intense clashes that erupted on Friday.
“On Friday morning, Taliban fighters launched an attack on our base in Chal district using heavy artillery and ammunition, but they were defeated by our forces. After suffering heavy casualties, the Taliban fighters retreated from the area.” NRF claimed in the tweet.
NRF also claimed that the Taliban fighters took hostage several residents of Chal district and took them away.
According to a local source, fighting between the two sides broke out in the mountainous Shera-wa-Mandara area on Friday morning and continued until 7:00 pm as a result of which several Taliban fighters were wounded and taken to a nearby hospital. NRF said its members did not suffer any causality.
The source added that 500 fresh Taliban fighters were deployed at the district’s security base and positioned at a local school.
However, Taliban security officials in Takhar refused the clashes between their fighters and NRF members in the district on Friday.