Taliban fighters overran a northern Afghan army base, officials said Tuesday, killing at least 14 soldiers with dozens feared captured and others said to have fled in the latest blow to the country's security forces.

Militants gained control of the base in Ghormach district of volatile Faryab province after days of heavy fighting, according to army spokesman for northern Afghanistan Mohammad Hanif Rezaee, adding that 100 soldiers were on the base when it was first attacked Sunday.

"It is a tragedy that the base fell to the enemy. Some soldiers were killed, some captured and some fled to nearby hills," Rezaee told AFP.

Faryab MP Hashim Otaq said that 14 soldiers were killed and about 40 others were captured by Taliban fighters in the base, known as Chenaya.

The Taliban victory in Faryab comes days after militants launched a brazen attack on the southeastern Afghan city of Ghazni late Thursday, some two hours drive from the capital Kabul.

Tahir Rehmani -- head of Faryab's provincial council -- said the base fell after the soldiers begged for reinforcements and air support from Kabul but were ultimately ignored.

"They were too busy with Ghazni," said Rehmani.

Afghan security forces, beset by killings, desertions and under intense pressure, have been struggling to beat back insurgents since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in December 2014.

The attack on Ghazni is the largest tactical onslaught by the Taliban since an unprecedented truce in June brought fighting between security forces and the Taliban to a brief stop, providing battle-worn Afghans some welcome relief.

The city remains in government hands, officials have said, but the insurgents appeared entrenched there Tuesday, according to residents who said they were burning buildings, killing civilians and firing on security forces conducting a clearing operation. </s> Taliban fighters have overrun an Afghan National Army operations base in northern Afghanistan while, further to the south, security forces are battling for a fifth consecutive day against Taliban militants who seized the city of Ghazni.

Defense Ministry spokesman Ghafor Ahmad Jawed said Taliban fighters gained control of the base in the Ghormach district of the northern province of Faryab late on August 13.

Jawed said 17 Afghan soldiers were killed and at least 19 wounded in the battle.

An army spokesman, Mohammad Hanif Rezaee, said 100 Afghan soldiers were at the base, known as Camp Chinaya, when the Taliban began their assault against it on August 12.

“It is a tragedy that the base fell to the enemy,” Rezaee said. “Some soldiers were killed, some captured, and some fled to nearby hills.”

Hashim Otaq, a member of Afghanistan’s parliament who represents Faryab Province, said about 40 Afghan soldiers had been captured by the Taliban.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said 57 Afghan soldiers surrendered to the Taliban and another 17 were captured. He said Taliban fighters seized eight military Humvees — four-wheeled armored vehicles that had been provided to the Afghan forces by the United States.

Faryab Provincial Council Chief Mohammad Tahir Rahmani said the base fell to the Taliban because the Afghan soldiers did not receive reinforcements and had run out of ammunition, food, and water.

The battle began after the Taliban launched an assault early on August 10 and captured Ghazni, a strategic city located on the main highway linking Kabul with the southern city of Kandahar.

Afghan officials said security forces, backed by air support, later pushed the militants back from most of Ghazni, which is Afghanistan’s seventh largest city.

Interior Ministry spokesman Nasart Rahimi said on August 14 that security forces were searching the city of 270,000 people for Taliban fighters.

Ghazni Provincial Council member Nasir Ahmad Faqiri wrote on Facebook that Taliban forces had slowly retreated from within the city to areas on Ghazni’s outskirts that are under Taliban control.

However, the militant group said sporadic gunbattles were still ongoing inside the city.

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says between 110 and 150 civilians reportedly have been killed or injured in the fighting, adding that the number of civilian casualties still needs to be verified.

Late on August 13, Defense Minister Tareq Shah Bahrami said about 100 police officers and soldiers were killed in the battle, along with at least 20 civilians. Bahrami said 341 Taliban fighters were killed or wounded in the battle for Ghazni.

Information from Ghazni was difficult to verify with telecommunications services being shut down due to the clashes.

Afghanistan’s Western-backed government in Kabul has been struggling to fend off the Taliban and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO troops in 2014.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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The fall of Camp Chenaya in the Ghormach district of Faryab province late Monday followed two days of intense fighting. Officials say the Afghan National Army (ANA) base was lost after soldiers failed to receive reinforcements and air support, and ran out of ammunition and other supplies.

Ghormach district Afghanistan

Regional military and government officials Tuesday confirmed to VOA that 40 of the 70 soldiers stationed at the base surrendered to the Taliban. They said the rest have either been killed or fled to nearby mountains during the clashes.



The capture of Camp Chenaya comes as Afghan security forces, with the help of U.S. airstrikes and military advisors, regained control of the southeastern strategic city of Ghazni following days of deadly fighting with the Taliban.

Smoke rises from a residential area where gun batt Smoke rises from a residential area where gun battle is going on between Taliban and Afghan forces in Ghazni province, Afghanistan Aug. 10, 2018. Smoke rises from a residential area where gun battle is going on between Taliban and Afghan forces in Ghazni province, Afghanistan Aug. 10, 2018.

The Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Jawed Ghafoor, told VOA that security forces have cleared the central parts of the city of insurgents and that cleanup operations were underway on the outskirts of Ghazni.



Separately, provincial governor Waheedullah Kalemzai, confirmed to VOA by phone that insurgents have been flushed out of the capital city. “Afghan security forces currently are conducting clearing operations in four areas of the city and life is returning to normalcy in Ghazni.”



There was no immediate reaction available from the Taliban.

Ghazni Afghanistan



Army officials have confirmed the killing of 100 Afghan soldiers and police personnel as well as 30 civilians since the Taliban assaulted the city on Friday, though local media gave much higher numbers of fatalities among government forces.



Defense Minister Gen. Tariq Shah Bahrami said Monday soldiers backed by allied airstrikes killed nearly 200 insurgents, including Arab, Chechen and Pakistani nationals.



U.N. officials said they were still trying to verify reports that the fighting for the control of Ghazni has resulted in up to 150 civilian casualties.



But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid swiftly rejected the official claims, saying insurgents have surrounded Afghan forces in parts of the city.



It was not possible to independently confirm the claims. Insurgents often issue inflated details about their battlefield gains.

A U.S. military statement Monday said the city remains under Afghan control. It said U.S. advisers are assisting Afghan forces, and since Friday U.S. “airpower has delivered decisive blows to the Taliban, killing over 140.”

A spokesman for the U.S. military, Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell, said "the isolated and disparate Taliban forces remaining in the city do not pose a threat to its collapse, as some have claimed.''

"That said, clearing operations are ongoing and sporadic clashes with the Taliban, particularly outside the city, continue," he said.

The provincial capital is located on the main highway linking northern and southern Afghan provinces, including the national capital of Kabul. The fighting had brought traffic to a halt, stranding thousands of passengers for the past five days.

The International Committee for the Red Cross said a break in the fighting Monday allowed its staff to provide the provincial hospital with fuel and emergency medical supplies.

Residents and staff said the facility was running out of space.

Acting U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan Rik Peeperkon called Monday for the warring sides to take urgent steps to mitigate the suffering of Ghazni’s besieged residents and protect civilian lives.

“Vital telecommunications networks and the electricity supply are down in the city of 270,000 people, which has impacted on the water supply, and food is also reportedly running low. ... Notably, parties to the conflict need to ensure that access to medical services is not denied and respect for medical facilities and staff is upheld,” Peeperkon said.

Hostilities in Ghazni have disrupted telecommunication services, making it nearly impossible to verify conflicting claims about the fighting. </s> The Latest on developments in Afghanistan after a surge in Taliban attacks (all times local):

The spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Kabul says the Taliban have overrun a military base in northern Afghanistan, killing 17 soldiers and wounding at least 19 troops.

Ghafor Ahmad Jawed says the insurgents overrun the base late on Monday night in Faryab province, in the district of Ghormach, after besieging it for three days.

The local provincial council chief, Mohammad Tahir Rahmani, says 43 troops were killed and wounded in the attack but didn't give a breakdown.

He says the Taliban attack succeeded in taking control of the base, known as Camp Chinaya, which housed about 140 Afghan troops.

Rahmani says the base fell to the Taliban after the soldiers resisted the three-day onslaught. He says they didn't get any reinforcements and ran out of ammunition, food and water.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in Faryab. He says 57 Afghan soldiers surrendered to the Taliban while 17 others were captured in battle. He says eight military Humvees were seized.

Afghan officials say security forces have pushed back the Taliban from Ghazni and are now trying to flush the insurgents from the city's outskirts.

The operations come on the fifth day after a massive Taliban attack on the provincial capital of Ghazni.

Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in Ghazni, which has killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces and at least 20 civilians.

Nasart Rahimi, a deputy spokesman at the Interior Ministry, says security forces were searching every inch of Ghazni for Taliban fighters on Tuesday.

Abdul Karim Arghandiwal, an army media officer in southeastern Afghanistan, says military helicopters are supporting the ground forces' operations in Ghazni.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denies the insurgents have been routed from Ghazni and says sporadic gunbattles are still ongoing. </s> Kabul: Taliban militants overran large parts of an army base in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 soldiers, wounding 15 and capturing dozens more infighting over the past two days, officials said on Tuesday.

The insurgents had captured tanks and ammunition in Chenayeeha army base, in Ghormach district of Faryab province, in an offensive that began on Sunday, according to Mohammad Tahir Rahmani, head of the provincial council. “We have not been able to enter the base. Large parts of the base are still under the Taliban control,” Rahmani said. Rahmani gave the casualty figures, but another provincial official added that the Taliban had captured 40 soldiers, but 30 militants had also been killed in the fighting.

The Taliban attack in the north coincided with clashes in the southeastern province of Ghazni, which lies on the main highway linking Kabul with the south. Hundreds of people have been killed or wounded during clashes there since last week, and hard-pressed Afghan forces received air support from US forces.

Residents who had fled the Ghazni city, the provincial capital, reported that the Taliban had cut telecommunications, electricity and water supplies, hospitals were running out medical supplies, while shops, homes and some government buildings had been destroyed. </s> KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants overran large parts of an army base in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 soldiers, wounding 15 and capturing dozens more in fighting over the past two days, officials said on Tuesday.

The insurgents had captured tanks and ammunition in Chenayeeha army base, in Ghormach district of Faryab province, in an offensive that began on Sunday, according to Mohammad Tahir Rahmani, head of the provincial council.

“We have not been able to enter the base. Large parts of the base are still under the Taliban control,” Rahmani said.

Rahmani gave the casualty figures, but another provincial official added that the Taliban had captured 40 soldiers, but 30 militants had also been killed in the fighting.

The Taliban attack in the north coincided with clashes in southeastern province of Ghazni, which lies on the main highway linking Kabul with the south.

Hundreds of people have been killed or wounded during clashes there since last week, and hard-pressed Afghan forces received air support from U.S. forces.

Residents who had fled the Ghazni city, the provincial capital, reported that the Taliban had cut telecommunications, electricity and water supplies, hospitals were running out medical supplies, while shops, homes and some government buildings had been destroyed. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Latest on developments in Afghanistan after a surge in Taliban attacks (all times local):

The spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Kabul says the Taliban have overrun a military base in northern Afghanistan, killing 17 soldiers and wounding at least 19 troops.

Ghafor Ahmad Jawed says the insurgents overrun the base late on Monday night in Faryab province, in the district of Ghormach, after besieging it for three days.

The local provincial council chief, Mohammad Tahir Rahmani, says 43 troops were killed and wounded in the attack but didn't give a breakdown.

He says the Taliban attack succeeded in taking control of the base, known as Camp Chinaya, which housed about 140 Afghan troops.

Rahmani says the base fell to the Taliban after the soldiers resisted the three-day onslaught. He says they didn't get any reinforcements and ran out of ammunition, food and water.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in Faryab. He says 57 Afghan soldiers surrendered to the Taliban while 17 others were captured in battle. He says eight military Humvees were seized.

Afghan officials say security forces have pushed back the Taliban from Ghazni and are now trying to flush the insurgents from the city's outskirts.

The operations come on the fifth day after a massive Taliban attack on the provincial capital of Ghazni.

Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in Ghazni, which has killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces and at least 20 civilians.

Nasart Rahimi, a deputy spokesman at the Interior Ministry, says security forces were searching every inch of Ghazni for Taliban fighters on Tuesday.

Abdul Karim Arghandiwal, an army media officer in southeastern Afghanistan, says military helicopters are supporting the ground forces' operations in Ghazni.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denies the insurgents have been routed from Ghazni and says sporadic gunbattles are still ongoing.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> (KABUL, Afghanistan) — The Taliban overran a base in northern Afghanistan, killing 17 soldiers, even as Afghan forces battled the insurgents for the fifth straight day in the eastern provincial capital of Ghazni on Tuesday, trying to flush them out of the city’s outskirts, officials said.

There were fears for the fate of the other troops from the base, known as Camp Chinaya, as the Taliban claimed that dozens had surrendered to them while others were captured in battle.

The attack in the north took place in Faryab province, in the district of Ghormach, according to the spokesman for the defense ministry, Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed. Along with the 17 troops killed, at least 19 soldiers were wounded, he said.

The Taliban had besieged the base, which housed about 140 Afghan troops, for three days before the massive push on it late on Monday night, said the local provincial council chief, Mohammad Tahir Rahmani.

Rahmani said the base fell to the Taliban after the soldiers, who had resisted the three-day onslaught, failed to get any reinforcements and ran out of ammunition, food and water. He said 43 troops were killed and wounded in the attack but didn’t give a breakdown.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 57 Afghan soldiers had surrendered to the Taliban while 17 others were captured in battle. He said eight military Humvees were also seized.

Meanwhile, Afghan security forces on Tuesday pushed back the Taliban from Ghazni, the provincial capital of a province with the same name, and were trying to flush the insurgents from the city’s outskirts.

The developments came on the fifth day after a massive Taliban attack on Ghazni. Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in the city, which has so far killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces and at least 20 civilians.

Nasart Rahimi, a deputy spokesman at the Interior Ministry, said security forces were searching every inch of Ghazni for remaining Taliban fighters on Tuesday.

Military helicopters were supporting the ground forces’ operations in Ghazni, said Abdul Karim Arghandiwal, an army media officer in southeastern Afghanistan.

Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, denied the insurgents have been routed from Ghazni and said sporadic gunbattles were still ongoing.

The Taliban’s multipronged assault on the strategic city of Ghazni, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital, Kabul, began Friday. The insurgents overwhelmed the city’s defenses, pushed deep into Ghazni and captured several parts of it in a major show of force.

The United States has carried out airstrikes and sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces in the city of 270,000 people.

The fall of Ghazni, which is the capital of the province of the same name, would be an important victory for the Taliban, cutting Highway One, a key route linking Kabul to the southern provinces, the insurgents’ traditional heartland.

The Taliban also destroyed a telecommunications tower on Ghazni’s outskirts, cutting off landline and cellphone links to the city.

The fighting brought civilian life in the city to a standstill, and also severely damaged Ghazni’s historic neighborhoods and cultural treasures.

In recent months, the Taliban have seized several districts across Afghanistan, staging near-daily attacks on security forces, but they have been unable to capture and hold urban areas.

The U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, but have since then repeatedly come to the aid of Afghan forces as they struggle to combat the resurgent Taliban </s> The Taliban overran a base in northern Afghanistan, killing 17 soldiers, even as Afghan forces battled the insurgents for the fifth straight day in the eastern provincial capital of Ghazni on Tuesday, trying to flush them out of the city's outskirts, officials said.

There were fears for the fate of the other troops from the base, known as Camp Chinaya, as the Taliban claimed that dozens had surrendered to them while others were captured in battle.

The attack in the north took place in Faryab province, in the district of Ghormach, according to the spokesman for the defense ministry, Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed. Along with the 17 troops killed, at least 19 soldiers were wounded, he said.

The Taliban had besieged the base, which housed about 140 Afghan troops, for three days before the massive push on it late on Monday night, said the local provincial council chief, Mohammad Tahir Rahmani.

Rahmani said the base fell to the Taliban after the soldiers, who had resisted the three-day onslaught, failed to get any reinforcements and ran out of ammunition, food and water. He said 43 troops were killed and wounded in the attack but didn't give a breakdown.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack, saying 57 Afghan soldiers had surrendered to the Taliban while 17 others were captured in battle. He said eight military Humvees were also seized.

Meanwhile, Afghan security forces on Tuesday pushed back the Taliban from Ghazni, the provincial capital of a province with the same name, and were trying to flush the insurgents from the city's outskirts.

The developments came on the fifth day after a massive Taliban attack on Ghazni. Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in the city, which has so far killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces and at least 20 civilians.

Nasart Rahimi, a deputy spokesman at the Interior Ministry, said security forces were searching every inch of Ghazni for remaining Taliban fighters on Tuesday.

Military helicopters were supporting the ground forces' operations in Ghazni, said Abdul Karim Arghandiwal, an army media officer in southeastern Afghanistan.

Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, denied the insurgents have been routed from Ghazni and said sporadic gunbattles were still ongoing.

The Taliban's multipronged assault on the strategic city of Ghazni, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital, Kabul, began Friday. The insurgents overwhelmed the city's defenses, pushed deep into Ghazni and captured several parts of it in a major show of force.

The United States has carried out airstrikes and sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces in the city of 270,000 people.

The fall of Ghazni, which is the capital of the province of the same name, would be an important victory for the Taliban, cutting Highway One, a key route linking Kabul to the southern provinces, the insurgents' traditional heartland.

The Taliban also destroyed a telecommunications tower on Ghazni's outskirts, cutting off landline and cellphone links to the city.

The fighting brought civilian life in the city to a standstill, and also severely damaged Ghazni's historic neighborhoods and cultural treasures.

In recent months, the Taliban have seized several districts across Afghanistan, staging near-daily attacks on security forces, but they have been unable to capture and hold urban areas.

The U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, but have since then repeatedly come to the aid of Afghan forces as they struggle to combat the resurgent Taliban
The Taliban captures Camp Chenaya, an Afghan Army base in Ghormach District, Faryab Province.