- URGUN, Afghanistan,(AFP)
- Taliban fighters have been in control of a town in southeast Afghanistan
near the Pakistan border for the past month, a provincial security head
said.
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- Barmal, 220 kilometres (140 miles) south of Kabul, was
seized by the militants after fighting in August, Paktika province security
chief Dawlat Khan said Friday.
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- Afghan government forces were "chased from Barmal
in mid-August after an attack by hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda members
coming from Pakistan," Khan told AFP in Urgun, 40 kilometres (25 miles)
north of Barmal.
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- At least 10 government militiamen were killed in the
attack. Some had their throats slit.
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- The local administration building was destroyed by the
attackers, who seized a large supply of weapons, according to soldiers
who took part in the fighting.
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- "Barmal has been under Taliban control since then,"
deputy provincial governor Sado Khan said.
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- "They are not militarily settled into the town,
but they come and go freely in the market," according to an official
close to the deputy governor who wished to remain anonymous.
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- Pro-government forces "withdrew north to the neighbouring
district of Urgun and have not intervened beyond" the district boundaries,
Urgun police chief Jalil Zadra told AFP.
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- The area is currently totally inaccessible for government
representatives and security forces, he said.
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