At least 18 civilians were killed and 260 more were injured in the two weeks of clashes in Afghanistan's Herat that led to the fall of the province to the Taliban, health officials said on Friday.
Most of the injured are under treatment at a provincial hospital in the city of Herat. Some of them said they lost members of their families in the clashes and their homes were either damaged or destroyed, TOLO News reported.
Of those injured, 31 are children and 24 are women, said Mohammad Arif Jailani, head of Herat public hospital. "Recently, most victims were injured due to mortar attacks," Jailani said.
On Thursday, the Taliban claimed that it captured Herat, the eleventh provincial capital in the war-torn country. Afghanistan is witnessing a surge in violence as the Taliban has intensified its offensive against Afghan forces and civilians with the complete pullback of foreign forces just a few weeks away.
Due to rising violence in the country by the Taliban, the situation is deteriorating badly as the terror group has been looting people and killing civilians after capturing multiple areas from the government.
The Taliban escalated its offensive against the Afghan forces soon after the US forces started leaving Afghanistan in large numbers after the peace deal signed between Washington and the Taliban in February last year.
On Wednesday, President Ashraf Ghani appointed a new chief of army staff in an attempt to give a robust response to the terror group on the ground. Haibatullah Alizai replaced Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, as the new chief of army staff. Alizai previously worked as commander of the Afghan National Army Commando.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor