Dozens of military personnel jailed for negligence: Laghman gov

The governor of Laghman province said that nearly 100 military personnel from around the province have been jailed for negligence.

Laghman Governor Rahmatullah Yarmal, told RFE / RL that the men included a number of high-ranking military personnel, including the deputy chief of national security operations for Laghman.

Yarmal also said that some security and defense forces have left posts to the Taliban without any resistance.

This comes amid a serious breakdown of security in the province in the past two weeks.

Major military operations were launched in some parts of Laghman on Sunday night following a series of Taliban group attacks.

Laghman police chief Lotfullah Kamran said that the enemies in the province were pushed back and suffered heavy casualties. The police chief also said that they will not leave the province to the enemies at any cost.

On the other hand the Taliban said in a video posted to social media that they have not been repelled and have instead seized 11 security checkpoints in the province.

On Sunday night sources told Ariana News that the provincial prison was under siege and the Taliban were “shouting via a load speaker & asking the prisoners to escape.”

Sources from the prison told Ariana News on condition of anonymity that two outposts close to the prison fell to the Taliban.

This comes after acting defense minister General Yasin Zia, who is also the chief of army staff, visited Laghman on Sunday to review the security situation in the province.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement earlier Sunday that Zia visited Laghman, “to lead counter-terrorism operations.”