Sar-i Pol Provincial Council Elections

SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): The Taliban are locked in an intense battle with security forces for the Kohistanat district of central Sar-i-Pul province, a public representative said on Saturday.
The insurgents had besieged the district centre following coordinated attacks from four sides, provincial council member Asadullah Khurrami told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said the roads leading to Kohistanat, which the Taliban seized for several days earlier this year, had been closed and communications lines disrupted as a result of fighting.

SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): The embattled Kohistanat district of northern Sar-i-Pul province has fallen to the Taliban, an official acknowledged on Tuesday.
Mohammad Asif Jabbarkhail, police chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News the district was captured by the Taliban after a commander of the Afghan Local Police (ALP) joined them.
At least 17 Afghan National Policemen (ANP) personnel and the district police chief had been missing since the militants overran the district, he added.

SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): At least four militants and as may policemen were killed on Wednesday when rebels mounted attack on a police check post in northern Sar-i-Pul province, provincial police chief said.
Col. Noor Habib Gulbahari told Pajhwok Afghan News that police had started operation in different areas since last three days. Four insurgents also wounded in the gun battle, he added.

SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): Residents of northern Sar-i-Pul on Wednesday accused local authorities of security negligence, asking the government to provide them with weapons to ensure their safety.
After meeting the acting governor, the residents told journalists that the provincial administration’s performance in dealing with the prevalent law and order situation in the province had been poor.

SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): A lawmaker from northern Sar-i-Pul province after visiting the frontline in support of Afghan security forces demanded the government to equip the country’s security forces to thwart challenges diligently.
Major clearing operations have been ongoing since last week in Sar-i-Pul after the insurgents intensified their activities in the province.
Lawmaker Sayed Anwar Sadaat said in order to boost morale of security forces he wore military uniform and visited them in Bulghali locality at a distance of 18 kilometres from the provincial capital.

SAR-I-PUL CITY (Pajhwok): Residents and a senior official on Sunday claimed 10 Uzbek women had joined militants and were assisting them in making magnetic bombs in northern Sar-i-Pul province.

Acting Governor Abdul Jabbar Haqbin confirmed the claim. He said the women had joined militants in the Salarzai village of Kohistanat district a month back.

Besides making magnetic bombs, he said, the Uzbek women had been participating in insurgent activities against the government and security forces in the area.

SAR-I-PUL CITY (Pajhwok): Residents of northern Sar-i-Pul province on Sunday accused the authorities of failing to keep its promises of employing locals on the Amu River fuel extraction project.

Muhammad Ibrahim, a resident of Sar-i-Pul, told Pajhwok Afghan News the fuel extraction process had been underway for the last two years but a single local had not been hired so far.

Azizullah, another dweller of the locality, said he had been jobless for two years. “The government had promised to accommodate us. People should be given jobs to remove their sense of deprivation.”

MAZAR-I-SHARIF/SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): A provincial council runner has been killed along with his eight others by the Taliban in northern Sar-i-Pul province, an official said Wednesday.
Two days earlier, gunmen kidnapped Husain Nazari and his nine friends in the Boghawi area on the Jawzjan- Sar-i-Pul highway. The captives were shot dead last night, the police chief said.

SAR-I-PUL (Pajhwok): A provincial council candidate has been kidnapped by militants in northern Sar-i-Pul province, a senior official said on Monday.
Hussain Nazari was seized from a passenger vehicle on his way from Suzma Qala district to the provincial capital late on Sunday.
Governor Abdul Jabbar Haqbin told Pajhwok Afghan News Nazari was contesting the April 5 provincial elections from Balkhab district.
He had been taken to an unknown location, with local elders and security personnel trying to secure the candidate’s release, the governor said.