KABUL, Afghanistan: 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.
Officials: Afghan forces push back Taliban from key city
Officials: Afghan forces push back Taliban from key city
- The operations come on the fifth day after a massive Taliban attack on the provincial capital of Ghazni
- Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denies the insurgents have been routed from Ghazni and says sporadic gunbattles are still ongoing
Hegseth vows most intense day yet of US strikes as Iran aims to fight on
- Netanyahu meanwhile said: “We are breaking their bones”
- “No nation takes more precautions to ensure there’s never targeting of civilians,” Hegseth said
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday will be the most intense day yet of US strikes inside Iran as the Islamic Republic, its firepower diminished, vowed to fight on.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile said: “We are breaking their bones” and said the war’s aim is a popular overthrow of Iran’s government.
US President Donald Trump, for his part, has sent contradictory signals about how long the war could last, causing wild swings Monday in financial and fuel markets. The US stock market and oil prices were holding relatively steady Tuesday.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf dismissed any suggestion Tehran has sought a ceasefire. Another top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, appeared to threaten Trump himself, writing on X that “Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats. Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”
Hegseth says US is taking the investigation on a school strike ‘very seriously’
Responding to a question shouted by a reporter at a news conference about accountability for the strike, Hegseth said that “we take things very, very seriously and investigate them thoroughly.”
“No nation takes more precautions to ensure there’s never targeting of civilians,” he said, adding that “open source information” shouldn’t be used to determine what happened.
Satellite images, expert analysis, a US official and public information suggest the explosion that killed at least 165 people, mostly children, was likely caused by US airstrikes that also hit an adjacent compound associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Trump erroneously claimed Monday that Iran has access to the American Tomahawk cruise missile, the weapon likely used to strike the school.
