Sources in Balkhab district, Sar-e-Pul province say that Taliban fighters have shot dead nine civilians.
Local sources added that the victims included five coal miners, two shepherds in the Ja-Mirak area, and two other civilians in Golwarz.
Sources also told Hasht-e Subh that four children have been seriously injured when a mortar shell hit a residential house in the Dahana-e Balkhab area. The shell has reportedly fired by the Taliban.
Today, however, the Taliban governor in Sar-e-Pul province, Abdul Rahman Aka, reassured the people in a video message that the Taliban had “treated” the people of Balkhab properly.
On the third day of the Taliban offensive on Balkhab district, heavy fighting continued to rage between the two sides in “Bazar Kohna”, “Shir Qala”, “Daman Kotal” and some other areas, sources said.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that they had recaptured Balkhab district on Saturday morning (June 25th).
It is claimed that there were no casualties in the Battle of Balkhab and that Mawlawi Mehdi’s forces left the area without putting up a fight.
But sources close to Mawlawi Mehdi have said that in a tactical withdrawal, they have surrounded hundreds of Taliban forces in the center of Balkhab district.