Afghanistan Times
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AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Hinting at mounting insecurity in northern Sar-i-Pul province, local security officials have said that lack of heavy weapons has marred their mission to bring law-and-order in the province.
They said the Taliban militants were trying to insecure the province and target the security forces.
Quoted by Radio Azadi on Saturday, the police chief of Sar-i-Pul, Noor Habib Gulbahari, said militants activities have surged in the province if compared with the past years, adding that they will leave no stone unturned to maintain law-and-order in Sar-i-Pul.
Reports suggest that militants have reached Baghawi area which is near to the central city of Sar-i-Pul. The reports also say that insurgents not only target security forces but civilians as well.
However, Gulbahari said the security forces have limited insurgents’ activities and are trying to eliminate militants in collaboration with locals.
In regard to security situation and militants’ activities in areas near the capital city of Sar-i-Pul, the police chief said that anti-government elements try to threat security wherever they live, but security forces need state-of-the-art weaponry to weed out militants in the northern province which has been termed as the gateway of north.
Residents of Balkhab district expressed concern over insecurity in Balkhab routes which connect the district with other parts of the province, and said militants threaten and kill civilians when they travel to other districts.
Abdullah, a resident of Balkhab, said people travel to the province less than the past and tens of civilians have been killed or wounded on their way to the district so far, as militants have stopped them and asked them for money. He said the main reason behind insecurity in the district was huge presence of rebels.
He added that insecurity has not only threatens remote districts of the province; central areas of the province are threatened by militants as well.
It comes as insecurity has recently increased in parts of the country, particularly the northern province which once were the safest and secure parts of Afghanistan.
