65 Taliban militants killed in clashes with Afghan govt. forces in Paktika province: Officials

Afghan government forces have killed 65 members of the Taliban militant group during an intense battle in eastern Afghanistan, officials say, as fighting between the government and Taliban rages despite the ongoing intra-Afghan peace talks.

The bloody clashes occurred late Wednesday after Taliban militants raided a military headquarters building in the Waza Khwa district of Paktika province, said provincial police spokesman Shah Mohammad Arian on Thursday.

“The fighting lasted several hours and in a retaliatory attack by the Afghan forces, the Taliban suffered heavy casualties,” he said, adding that the fierce fighting left 65 Taliban militants dead and 35 others injured.

“Unfortunately, three police forces were martyred and six others wounded,” Arian further said.

Bothe the incident and the casualties were confirmed by Bakhtiar Gul Zadran, the head of Paktika provincial council.

The Taliban group, however, has yet to comment.

The deadly fighting came just a day after the militant group killed 28 Afghan paramilitary policemen in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan.

The provincial governor’s spokesman, Zelgai Ebadi, said the Taliban militants had offered 28 local and national police officials a chance to go home if they surrendered. “But after taking their guns, the Taliban killed them all,” he said on Wednesday.

Dozens of Afghan soldiers have been killed in clashes with Taliban since peace talks began

Afghanistan sees the recent bloodshed against the backdrop of peace talks that commenced in Qatar.

Since September 12, representatives of the central government in Kabul and those of Taliban have been engaged in peace talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, following months of delay over a contentious prisoner swap between the two sides.

Earlier this month, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem claimed the group had decreased the level of violence with the start of the first round of intra-Afghan talks.

The peace talks come following a deal between the Taliban and the United States signed in February.

Under the deal with Washington, the Taliban agreed to halt their attacks on US-led foreign forces in return for the US pull-out of its troops from Afghanistan and a prisoner swap with the government.

Kabul was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal, but it has been acting in accordance with its terms, including by agreeing to free the Taliban prisoners.

In all, Kabul released 5,000 prisoners demanded by the Taliban.

According to official data, bombings and other assaults by the Taliban have increased by 70 percent since the militant group signed the February deal.

The US invaded the Asian country and toppled the Taliban-run government in 2001 under the pretext of fighting terrorism following the September 11 attacks in New York.

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