Taliban forces have reportedly targeted civilian property, leaving some of its forces reluctant to fight in Balkhab, Sar-e-Pul province.
Sources familiar with the developments in Sar-e-Pul province say that the Taliban will immediately execute those locally-recruited forces who give up fighting against public uprising forces led by Mawlawi Mehdi.
Reliable sources told Hasht-e Subh on Saturday that the Taliban were targeting civilian houses in the Battle of Balkhab, adding that locally recruited forces have became reluctant to obey orders and fight against their fellow localities.
According to sources, the Taliban’s Badri-313 unit – a notorious suicide battalion – was on the front line on the first day of the battle, but after suffering casualties, the Taliban have now pushed its locally recruited personnel into the war.
The Taliban are also said to have killed their security chief for the Dara-e-Suf Bala district of Samangan province last night (June 24th) along with a number of his troops as he made no progress in the battle of Balkhab. Public uprising forces in Balkhab later claimed that the Taliban member had been killed by local forces led by Mawlawi Mehdi.
Sources say that dozens of Taliban members have been killed and wounded in the past three days in Balkhab.
Mawlawi Mehdi Mujahid, the only member of the Hazara ethnic group, has served as a prominent commander in the ranks of the Taliban in the past few years. He has recently left the group due to the so-called Taliban’s aggressive approach toward the Hazara ethnic and religious minority and gathered troops in his birthplace in Balkhab. Mehdi claims that he is not interested in fighting the Taliban and that the Taliban must stop oppressing ethnic and religious minorities.