Eight Afghan soldiers die fighting off Taliban attack on key city

KUNDUZ AFP May19, 2020  -  Eight Afghan soldiers were killed on Tuesday while repelling a fierce Taliban attack on Kunduz, a strategic city in northern Afghanistan that had briefly fallen to the militants twice in the past, officials said.   

Taliban fighters attacked several government posts on the outskirts of the city at around 1:00 am, a defence ministry statement said, triggering heavy fighting.   
 “With the support of air force their attack was repelled,” it said, adding the fighting lasted for several hours.   

Defence Minister Assadullah Khalid, who visited Kunduz later on Tuesday, said the Taliban had “suffered big losses”.   

 “Unfortunately, we have also lost eight brave soldiers,” he told reporters.   Three civilians were also killed and 55 others wounded in the overall violence that rocked the city, Kunduz provincial health director Ehsanullah Afzali said.