KABUL: Taliban insurgents have seized control of the administrative headquarters of a district in northern Sari Pul province, where fighting has been ongoing for days, officials said on Tuesday.

Amanuddin Aman, spokesman for the provincial police chief, said hundreds of insurgents had attacked the Kohistanat district HQ from different directions early on Tuesday morning.

Provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Asef Jabarkhail said that reinforcements had not been sent to back up the police in the fight because Kohistanat is 100 kilometres from the provincial capital.

“Right now we are working on a plan to launch a joint operation to retake the district from the Taliban,” he said, adding that one police commander and seven of his men had been forced to surrender.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said in a statement that the group’s gunmen now control the entire district and had seized police vehicles, weapons and ammunition.

Afghanistan’s war with the Taliban has intensified this year and spread to the country’s previously peaceful northern regions.

In Kunduz province, bordering Tajikistan, Taliban fighters attacked Khan Abad district late on Monday, and had taken control of a number of villages, said Sarwar Hussaini, spokesman for the provincial police chief.

“Afghan security forces have been sent in to support the locals fighting the Taliban to take back control of the lost villages,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015

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