KABUL: Both Taliban and government forces claimed they were in control of the eastern Afghan city of Ghazni Saturday, after insurgents stormed the provincial capital, triggering fierce fighting.
Afghan officials said they were in control of Ghazni late Friday with authorities in Kabul saying security forces were conducting a clearance operation targeting Taliban fighters who had taken up positions in residential homes.
But information about who controlled the city was difficult to confirm with power and mobile services cut to the area after the Taliban destroyed a telecommunications tower, according to Ghazni MP Shah Gul Rezaye.
“The central government in Kabul said the situation in Ghazni was under their control, but we managed to contact officials in Ghazni who said that fighting was underway in areas surrounding Ghazni,” said the parliamentarian.
Rezaye said additional reinforcements had been rushed to Ghazni late Friday, after US forces deployed attack helicopters and launched at least one drone strike to push back the Taliban fighters.
The Taliban, however, claimed victory saying their fighters were now in control of Ghazni after routing Afghan forces.
“Last night, our mujahideen have completely conquered a battalion in Ghazni, seizing weapons and ammunition and four pickup trucks,” said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a message to journalists Saturday.
“Our mujahideen are protecting the city of Ghazni.”
The insurgents frequently exaggerate their battlefield gains and downplay losses incurred during clashes.
Ghazni — less than two hours by road from Kabul — has been under increasing danger from massing Taliban fighters for months with reports suggesting insurgents had already infiltrated the city.
The attack, which began late Thursday, was the latest attempt by the Taliban to seize an urban center and comes as pressure mounts on the insurgents to enter peace talks with the government to end the nearly 17-year-old war.
Taliban, Kabul govt both claim embattled Afghan city
Taliban, Kabul govt both claim embattled Afghan city
- Information about who controlled the city was difficult to confirm with power and mobile services cut to the area
- The Taliban, however, claimed victory saying their fighters were now in control of Ghazni after routing Afghan forces
Death sentence sought for ex-South Korea leader Yoon over martial law decree
- Removed from office last April, Yoon faces criminal trials over his martial law debacle and other scandals
- The court is expected to deliver a verdict on Yoon in February
SEOUL: An independent counsel has demanded a death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.
The Seoul Central District Court said independent counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team made the request at a hearing Tuesday. Yoon was expected to make remarks there.
Removed from office last April, Yoon faces criminal trials over his martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office. Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones.
The court is expected to deliver a verdict on Yoon in February.
Yoon has maintained that his decree was a desperate yet peaceful attempt to raise public awareness about what he considered the danger of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to obstruct his agenda and complicate state affairs.
Yoon called the opposition-controlled parliament “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.” But lawmakers rushed to object to the imposition of martial law in dramatic overnight scenes, and enough of them, including even those within Yoon’s ruling party, managed to enter an assembly hall to vote down the decree.
Yoon’s decree, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, brought armed troops into Seoul streets to encircle the assembly and enter election offices. That evoked traumatic memories of dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed rulers used martial law and other emergency decrees to station soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles in public places to suppress pro-democracy protests.
Yoon’s decree and ensuing power vacuum plunged South Korea into political turmoil, halted the country’s high-level diplomacy and rattled its financial markets.
Yoon’s earlier vows to fight attempts to impeach and arrest him deepened the country’s political divide. In January last year, he became the country’s first sitting president to be detained.
