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JABAL SERAJ, Oct 24: Anti-Taliban forces in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday claimed their first territorial gains with US air support, but north of Kabul four consecutive days of airstrikes appeared to have done little damage to Taliban lines.
Opposition commander Mohammad Atta said his forces in the Dara-i-Souf valley, 70 kilometres south of the key northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif, had mounted an offensive towards the district of Keshendeh during the night.
He said “wave after wave” of US air attacks on the enemy had enabled his men to win control of four villages in fighting which left between 70 and 80 Taliban troops dead.
“The Americans bombed them again and again. It was very helpful for us,” Atta said from the frontlines, which he said were quiet after the overnight battle.
Opposition troops were last week battling the Taliban just seven to eight kilometres from Mazar-i-Sharif — a crucial city near the Uzbekistan border — and appear to have suffered a major blow in the Taliban counterattack.
FRONTLINES BOMBED: North of Kabul, five US jets carried out a sustained raid on Taliban frontlines, dropping at least 13 bombs.
The warplanes were seen flying high over the Shomali plains that sweep north of the city, drawing strong Taliban anti-aircraft fire in a sign that militia positions were still fully intact.
The bombs hit targets near Siaku at the mouth of the Kapisa valley, around 80 kilometres northeast of the city, and an area near Bagram airbase, situated close to the Taliban’s main frontline on two parallel running roads north of the city.
On two occasions, bright lights were seen emerging from the rear of the jets, but it was unclear if the planes were dropping flares to avoid surface-to-air missiles or if the flashes were from air-to-ground missiles.
The one-hour-long attack was the fourth consecutive day of airstrikes on the front. Opposition officials have complained that the attacks have so far been too small to make any significant difference to the Taliban’s positions.
Since the beginning of airstrikes on Oct 7, the US has only hit the frontline north of Kabul on a limited number of occasions, even though witnesses have reported seeing convoys of additional militiamen travelling to the lines to evade US-led strikes on Kabul.—AFP
