KABUL (TCA) — Afghan officials said the Taliban have seized control of Kohistan district in Faryab province and Taywara district in Ghor province in northern and central Afghanistan, local media reported.
Abdul Karim Youresh, spokesman for the police chief of Faryab Province, said the militants seized Kohistan district, including the government headquarters, early on July 23, RFE/RL reported.
Mohammad Mustafa Moheseni, the provincial police chief of Ghor Province, said Taywara district fell late on July 22 following clashes with militants. Officials said Taliban militants killed several doctors and patients in a Taywara hospital.
The Taliban said in a statement that they had captured both the Kohistan and the Taywara districts.
The Afghan Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said the districts had not fallen, insisting that government forces were still locked in fighting with the militants.
Youresh said security forces and police were battling the militants in eight districts in the Faryab province, located on the border with Turkmenistan.
Meanwhile, Moheseni said at least eight police were killed in fighting against the militants in Ghor, an impoverished, remote province in central Afghanistan.
The Taliban are engaged in fighting with security forces in the northern province of Baghlan, temporarily closing a key highway between the capital, Kabul, and northern Afghanistan.
