New attack of Taliban, intelligence information about fierce battles

The Afghan Ministry of Defense said that terrorists attacked a joint military base in the Dolphatt region of Balkh province, near the border with Uzbekistan.

"As a result of this attack, seven Afghan army soldiers were killed and three were wounded, and three employees of the National Security Directorate were wounded," the ministry said.

For his part, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that 20 soldiers were killed in the attack, including a commander.

"We wounded six soldiers, captured four others, and took control of the military base," Mujahid wrote on Twitter.

The attack comes the day after the movement claimed responsibility for an attack, in which an American soldier was killed in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan.

German officials at the Mirmal camp, which is a German-run base outside Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh, said that January 2019 saw the largest number of attacks in the north.

"If there is no change in the game at the strategic level, the winter will be hot," one of them told France Press. He added, "We are talking about twenty security incidents per day, on average," at the North Command of NATO.

Washington and the Taliban were close to reaching an agreement in the beginning of September, but US President Donald Trump suspended negotiations after an attack on Bagram air base in northern Kabul, killing 12 people, including an American soldier.

(T/S)

ANHA