At least 30 members of the pro-government forces were reportedly killed in the ongoing clashes in Ishkamish district in the northeastern province of Takhar.

The clashes started on July 24, according to local officials.

An MP from Takhar, Habiba Danish, said the clashes are still ongoing in Padarkosh, Qorugh, Jar Sharif and Khwaja Bandak Shah villages of Ishkamish district.  

Takhar officials did not comment on the casualties but said the clashes are still ongoing.

The Defense Ministry spokesman Rohullah Ahmadzai said a clearance operation has started in the district that it will be cleared of militants in the near future.

“In war, both sides suffer causalities. We accept that we had causalities there, but the enemy’s fatalities were many times higher than ours,” Ahmadzai said.  

Some Takhar residents who have been displaced to Kabul said that an illegal armed commander has occupied a few villages of Yang Qala district of Takhar and has disrupted law and order there. 

“I want the murderer of my father to be punished. I went to the provincial governor, but he did not hear me. The governor said the commander has weapons and we cannot stop him,” said Nizamuddin, a Takhar resident. 

“He is bullying there. It is about three years that we complain against this man, but nothing happens,” said Mohammad Rahim, a Takhar resident.