Thousands flee pitched battles in Afghan city

The number of war-displaced civilians in Kunduz has more than doubled to 24,000, the UN said Sunday, as street battles persisted a week after the Taliban stormed into the northern Afghan city.

Terrified residents facing a growing humanitarian crisis have been fleeing explosions and gunfights to neighboring provinces of Balkh, Takhar, Baghlan and the capital Kabul.
“Initial reports indicate that around 24,000 internally displaced persons” have fled Kunduz, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
“As assessments are ongoing and families are still on the move, this figure will almost certainly change.”
The UN had earlier said up to 10,000 people had fled the city, which briefly fell last year to the Taliban in a similar assault.
Kunduz residents have faced crippling shortages of food and medicine after the Taliban launched an all-out assault last Monday, capturing parts of the city.
Afghan forces have struggled to flush them out of residential neighborhoods, with the government saying the clearance operation was being carefully conducted to prevent civilian casualties.
“Key parts of the city have been cleared, with 52 insurgents killed in the last 24 hours,” the interior ministry said on Sunday.
The Taliban attack on Afghanistan’s fifth largest city a year after it was overrun by insurgents has raised serious concerns about the capacity of NATO-trained government forces to protect large urban centers.
“Kunduz is a tragedy caused by the government’s failure to stop the Taliban from entering the city,” Kunduz MP Fatima Aziz told local TOLO TV.
Meanwhile, eight Afghan army soldiers were killed early Sunday morning when a military helicopter crashed in northern Baghlan province, officials said.
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said that five crew members and three army soldiers were killed in the crash.
The crash took place in Dand Ghori district while the helicopter was supplying a military base, he said. Waziri blamed a technical problem with the aircraft and said he rejected any claims by insurgents to have downed the helicopter.
One helicopter was on the ground while a second was patrolling in the air above, when "suddenly a technical problem caused the helicopter to catch fire and hit the ground," Waziri said.
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid issued a statement claiming responsibility for downing the helicopter in which he said the aircraft was shot down by fighters.

Source: Arab News