Fighting claims 12 lives in north, east of Afghanistan

Afghan militancy and counter- militancy have claimed 12 lives and injured more than two dozen others in the northern Baghlan and eastern Kunar province on Tuesday, police said.

The hard-liner militant outfit attempting to regain power and re-establish its brutal rule on the war-ravaged country, launched a coordinated attack on security checkpoints in Dand-e-Ghori district of the northern Baghlan province with Pul-e-Khumri as its capital 250 km north of Kabul on Tuesday, provincial police chief Abdul Jabbar Purduli said.

"Taliban rebels stormed security checkpoints in Dand-e-Ghori district early morning today triggering gun battle which is still continuing," Purduli told reporters.

"Eight Talban rebels have been killed and five others including a senior commander Mullah Abdul Majid Akhund were injured," the official asserted.

Three security personnel have been injured in the fighting, he admitted.

Meanwhile, a doctor in Pul-e-Khumri hospital, Ainudin Sayadi has confirmed that 23 injured people including 13 security personnel and 10 civilians have been taken to the hospital for medical treatment.

Political observers believe that Baghlan's provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri would come under direct threat of Taliban militants if the hard-liner fighters capture the strategically important Dand-e-Ghori valley.

Similarly clash between Taliban insurgents and security forces in Shegal district of the eastern Kunar province with Assadabad as its capital 185 km of Kabul have left four people including three militants and a police constable dead on Tuesday, provincial police chief Abdul Habib Sayed Khili confirmed.

Taliban-led militancy has been on constant rise since the confirmation of the death of former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in late July.

The new leader of Taliban outfit, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor who succeeded Mullah Omar on July 30, has vowed to intensify the wage of violence and terror attacks in the militancy- plagued Afghanistan.