Herat: Taliban fighters clashed with government forces on the outskirts of Herat Friday forced the family score to escape, said residents, when the rebels tightened the snare around the city of Afghanistan.
The Taliban has confiscated several districts in the outskirts of the city – and two border crossings in Herat Province coexist Iran and Turkmenistan – when they continue sweeping throughout the country.
Violence has surged since early May, when US foreign troops began to start the final withdrawal which is now almost finished.
A AFP correspondent at Herat said the Taliban and government forces were fighting on the road to the city airport, while residents said clashes also occurred in the Gospel and Guzara districts nearby.
“The people there are scared,” said Abdul Rab Ansari Local, who fled to town from Guzara.
“The battle is heavy but they have not caught Guzara’s district so far,” said Mohammad Allahar, who was also looking for protection in the city.
The UN assistance mission in Afghanistan told AFP that shot had been fired close to UN facilities in Herat.
“There is no UN personnel engaged or influenced by the reported incident,” he said.
Afghan troops and militias from veteran warlords and anti-Taliban commanders Ismail Khan have been deployed around the city around 600,000 residents.
Khan, who had previously fought in the Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s and then the Taliban during their hardline regime in the 1990s, had vowed to fight the militants again to fight their surprising progress in recent months.
