Taliban push into provincial capital in southern Afghanistan
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}File, In this Aug. 15, 2016 photo, Taliban suicide bombers stand guard during a gathering of a breakaway Taliban faction, in the border area of Zabul province, Afghanistan. An Afghan official said, Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2016, that the Taliban have pushed into the capital of Uruzgan province in the country's south, triggering fierce clashes and prompting an evacuation of all government officials. The insurgent advance has left Afghan authorities only in charge of the city's police headquarters in Tirin Kot. The provincial spokesman, Doost Mohammad Nayab, says Taliban fighters are besieging the police headquarters and appealed on the government in Kabul for prompt reinforcements. (AP Photo/Mirwais Khan, File) (The Associated Press)
An Afghan official says the Taliban have pushed into the capital of southern Uruzgan province, triggering fierce clashes and sending all government officials fleeing from the city.
The provincial spokesman, Doost Mohammad Nayab, says the insurgents' advance has left authorities in control only of the Tirin Kot police headquarters, which the Taliban were besieging on Thursday morning.
Nayab says that all checkpoints around the city have been overrun or destroyed and appealed to Kabul for quick reinforcements. He didn't give a casualty toll but said he feared that the city will soon completely fall to the insurgents.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tirin Kot is the third Afghan provincial capital that has come under Taliban threat recently, along with the city of Kunduz in the north and Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province.