Baghlan Residents: Taliban Using Homes as Fighting Positions

Residents in Pul-e-Khumri city, the center of the Afghan northern province of Baghlan, on Wednesday said that the Taliban are using people’s homes as fighting positions as they battle Afghan forces.

A family who lost a member during the fighting has called on the warring parties to avoid using the people’s homes.

The Taliban has denied it is doing so.

“Both sides chant the slogan of Allah Akbar (God is great), both sides claim to be the martyrs, the innocent people are also martyred,” said Rassoul Khan, brother of the victim.

“It is not only the father who is faced with this tragedy, the entire village is suffering from it,” said Abdullah, a resident of Pul-e-Khumri.

“My mother was wounded,” said a child in Pul-e-Khumri.

“When I leave home for the office, many things come into my mind, I feel that there will be war there,” said Frozan Sadat, a media worker in Pul-e-Khumri.

Baghlan has been one of the major battleground areas between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban in the past two months.

Health officials in Baghlan on Tuesday said that over 100 civilians were killed and wounded–among them women and children–in recent clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban in the province.

Afghan security officials in Baghlan said that the Taliban once again tried to penetrate the defenses of Pul-e-Khumri city on Monday night, however, security forces managed to repel the attacks.

“We hit them. Their corpses are still lying behind those walls. They have not transferred their dead bodies so far,” said Raz Mohammad, an Afghan commando officer in Baghlan, referring to the battles with the Taliban.