“Shafaq” operation leaves more than thousand Taliban killed

Afghan security officials have said that more than a thousand armed Taliban including top commanders were killed during the “Shafaq” operation in several provinces of the country.

Previously, the security forces have announced launching a special operation under the name of “Shafaq” for clearing out the armed oppositions of the government.

Security officials say that a number of villages in Kunduz, Takhar, Baghlan and Helmand are being wiped out from the militants.

Heavy fighting has continued for months across Afghanistan, from Kunduz, the northern city that fell briefly to the insurgents last year, to Helmand province bordering Pakistan in the south.

“It is an unprecedented achievement. Nearly 1015 militants were killed and 600 others wounded and 175 arrested,” Najib Danish, deputy spokesman of interior ministry said.

The Taliban have not yet commented on security officials’ claims, but the group earlier denied suffering fatalities and claimed to have inflicted heavy losses on the security personnel.

This comes as Taliban has recently announced the start of their spring offensive, pledging to launch large-scale offensives against government strongholds backed by suicide and guerrilla attacks to drive Afghanistan’s Western-backed government from power.

The seasons have long shaped violence in Afghanistan with fighting easing off in the winter, when mountain passes get snowed in, and picking up again in the spring and summer.

The Taliban said they would try to avoid killing civilians or destroying civilian infrastructure, and would carry out a “dialogue with our countrymen in the enemy ranks” to try to convince them to join the insurgency.