Afghans have staged a rally in the eastern province of Parwan to protest against the recent night-time raids carried out by US forces in the war-torn country, Press TV reports.
Angry protesters, who gathered in the provincial capital, Charikar, on Monday, chanted anti-US slogans and called for the quick withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan.
The demonstration comes after US forces attacked the home of an Afghan commander and exploded an arms depot inside his home in Parwan Province, north of the capital Kabul, on Sunday.
The details of the night-time raid, which caused panic among local residents, are still sketchy.
Soldiers, militants casualties
Meanwhile, at least 14 militants have been killed in four provinces of the country, Afghan officials said.
According to a statement issued by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior on Monday, the militants were killed during fresh military operations in Khost, Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces in the past 24 hours.
Over a dozen militants also sustained injuries in these operations, the statement said.
Local sources also quoted an Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying that 11 Afghan soldiers were killed and nine others wounded after Taliban militants attacked a military convoy in the western province of Herat late Sunday.
The unnamed official said that the Afghan army convoy was heading towards Badghis Province when it came under attack in Masjid-i-Chobi area of Kurkh District.
In the meantime, General Zahir Azimi, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, confirmed in a tweet on Monday that seven Afghan soldiers had been killed in the past 24 hours.
However, he didn’t give further details about the incidents.
Afghanistan has been experiencing a massive influx of foreign militants from a host of countries over the past years.
The war-ravaged country has been the scene of violence since 2001, when the US and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.
The US-led military alliance in Afghanistan officially ended its combat mission on December 31, 2014. Insecurity still persists in the war-torn country despite the presence of at least 13,500 foreign troops.
YH/NN/HRB