The Afghan security forces recaptured the control of Nawa district from the Taliban insurgents in southern Helmand province.

The control of the district fell to Afghan forces after days of clashes and months after it was captured by the Taliban insurgents.

Provincial governor’s spokesman Omar Zwak confirmed that the Afghan forces seized the control of the key areas of Nawa district on Saturday, including the center of the district where the Taliban insurgents had established important fighting positions.

Zwak further added that the foreign forces based in Afghanistan are also providing support to the Afghan security forces, mainly providing air support.

He also added that the clearance operations are still underway in the district and one of the main challenges on the way for the clearance of the district is roadside bombs planted by the Taliban insurgents.

There are no reports regarding the casualties during the clashes so far with the Taliban group yet to comment regarding the fall of the district.

Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.

Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS </s> The Afghan national defense and security forces seized control of the district center of Nawa in southern Helmand province, nine months after it was captured by the Taliban insurgents.

According to the local government officials, the control of the district center fell to Afghan forces during the operations earlier this morning.

The officials further added that clearance operations are still underway by the joint forces, mainly focusing on clearing the mines planted by the Taliban insurgents.

This comes as General Radmanish, MOD deputy spokesperson said Sunday that the clearance operation is ongoing in the south and north parts of Nawa district aiming to completely clear the district of brutal Taliban presence. He said ANDSF are now controlling Nawa district and are clearing mines and IEDs planted by Taliban to protect civilian lives.

He also added that the government will soon resume public services, and open clinics and schools in this district. Residents of this district were deprived of public services over the past year due to the Taliban presence in this district.

Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are actively operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.

Follow Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook. Stay updated via RSS </s> KABUL: Afghan security forces have retaken a southern district from the Taliban as part of a drive to weaken the insurgents' hold on Helmand province and push them back from around its capital, Lashkar Gah, officials said on Monday.

A two-day offensive launched on Saturday saw security forces take the district centre of Nawa, to the south of Lashkar Gah, killing more than 50 fighters and destroying vehicles and equipment, said defence ministry spokesman, General Dawlat Waziri.

The operation would continue with security forces moving further south along the main road to the town of Garmsir, officials said.

The recapture of Nawa district, from where the insurgents threatened Lashkar Gah, reflects renewed focus by Afghan forces and their U.S. advisers on Helmand, an insurgent heartland that is source of much of the world's illegal opium.

The Taliban, fighting to re-establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan and drive out international forces backing the government in Kabul, control large stretches of the province and have targeted Lashkar Gah.

It was not possible to independently verify the defence ministry's casualty figure and no comment on insurgent losses was immediately available from the Taliban. </s> Afghan troops have recaptured a district from Taliban militants in the volatile southern province of Helmand, a government official said.

A large-scale operation to retake Helmand's Nawa district began early on July 15 with Afghan troops moving in from three different directions as international forces provided air support, Omar Zowak, the provincial governor’s spokesman said.

Zowak said security forces seized the district center and other key areas in Nawa, which was overrun by the Taliban nine months ago.

According to Zowak, at least 12 Taliban militants were killed and two Afghan policemen were wounded in the operation in Nawa, some 15 kilometers south of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.

The Taliban has a strong presence in Helmand.

Earlier in July, a U.S. soldier was killed and two others were wounded in a suspected Taliban attack in Nawa.

U.S. military officials said the soldiers had been conducting an operation with partnered Afghan security forces when they came under fire.

About 13,000 U.S. and allied troops in a NATO-led force are deployed in Afghanistan. </s> Kabul: An Afghan official says the country's security forces have driven the Taliban out of a key district in southern Helmand province from where they had been threatening the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

Defence Ministry's spokesman, Daulat Waziri, today said that the battle to recapture the district of Naway had been fierce. He says more than 50 Taliban fighters were killed and five security forces were wounded.

Naway is located just 16 kilometers, or 10 miles, from Lashkar Gah, and had been a staging arena for militant attacks on the city.

Government troops also captured a large cache of ammunitions and guns. The Taliban did not immediately comment on reports of the district's fall.

US and NATO troops are in Helmand to assist Afghan security forces when needed. </s> KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security forces backed by U.S. air strikes have retaken a southern district from the Taliban as part of a drive to weaken the insurgents’ hold on Helmand province and push them back from around its capital, Lashkar Gah, officials said on Monday.

A two-day offensive, supported by numerous air strikes from U.S. F-16 fighters and Apache helicopters, launched on Saturday saw security forces take the district center of Nawa, to the south of Lashkar Gah, officials said.

More than 50 fighters were killed and vehicles and equipment were destroyed, said defense ministry spokesman General Dawlat Waziri. Over 100 improvised explosive devices were also disabled, Task Force Southwest, the U.S. Marine Corps-led training and assistance mission in Helmand said in a statement.

The operation, which comes as the United States weighs sending more troops to Afghanistan, will continue with security forces moving further south along the main road to the town of Garmsir, officials said.

The recapture of Nawa district, which lifted a serious threat to transport links into Lashkar Gah, reflects renewed focus by Afghan forces and their U.S. advisers on Helmand, an insurgent heartland that is source of much of the world’s illegal opium.

“Nawa is a major north-south route for transportation, so as people travel north, they would typically travel through Nawa. From that perspective it’s a very significant geographic location,” said Col. David Gibbs, the Task Force Southwest officer in charge of police training and assistance.

The operation also removed a threat to civilian aircraft landing in Bost Airfield, just outside Lashkar Gah.

The Taliban, fighting to re-establish strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan and drive out international forces backing the government in Kabul, control large stretches of the province and have targeted Lashkar Gah.

It was not possible to independently verify the defense ministry’s casualty figure and no comment on insurgent losses was immediately available from the Taliban. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan forces have retaken a key southern district from the Taliban while in a western province, insurgents on Monday snatched three officers from their car, including a woman, and killed them, officials said.

The country's security forces drove the Taliban out of Naway district in southern Helmand province from where they had been threatening the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, said Defense Ministry spokesman, Daulat Waziri.

The battle to recapture the district had been fierce, with more than 50 Taliban fighters killed and five security forces wounded, he said. Naway is located just 16 kilometers (10 miles) from Lashkar Gah, and had been a staging arena for militant attacks on the city.

Government troops also captured a large cache of ammunitions and guns. The Taliban did not immediately comment on reports of the district's fall. U.S. and NATO troops are in Helmand to assist Afghan security forces when needed.

Separately, in western Herat province on the border with Iran, three border police officers were snatched from their vehicle and killed by the Taliban, said Jelani Farhad, the provincial governor's spokesman. A female officer was among the dead.

The officers were driving to their office in the district of Kushk in Herat province when they were ambushed by Taliban, dragged from their vehicle and shot, said Farhad. </s> Afghan security forces have recaptured a southern district in the restive province of Helmand from the Taliban, as part of Kabul’s campaign to push the militant group from one of the key heartlands of insurgency and narcotics production.

In a two-day operation launched on Saturday, the security forces took the district center of Nawa to the south of the provincial capital city of Lashkar Gah, killing more than 50 militants and destroying their vehicles and equipment, Defense Ministry spokesman, General Dawlat Waziri, was cited as saying by Reuters on Monday.

The casualties announced by the Defense Ministry could not be immediately verified.

The security forces plan to continue the operation southward along the main road to the town of Garmsir, officials said.

The Taliban control large stretches of Helmand Province, which is considered the source of much of the world's illegal opium.

Afghanistan has been gripped by violence and insecurity since the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

During the past 16 years, the Taliban militants have been conducting terrorist attacks across the country, killing and displacing civilians.

In addition, the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has recently managed to take recruits from Afghan Taliban defectors.

According to the mid-year report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan published on Monday, 1,662 people were killed and more than 3,500 injured in the war-torn country in the first half of 2017, showing a sharp rise in the civilian casualties. </s> Afghan security forces supported by US air power have retaken the center of volatile Nawa district from the Taliban in southern Helmand province, US officials said Monday.

Backed by strikes from F-16 fighters and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, Afghan troops began the two-day operation Saturday near the city of Lashkar Gar, which is the capital of Helmand.

Officials said the operation to retake the center of Nawa would improve security in Lashkar Gar, particularly at an airfield just outside the city.

The US military touted the advance against the Taliban as a significant success for the Afghan security forces, which have struggled to contain a resurgent Taliban in recent years.

Afghan police Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Omar said the US air support was an important part of the operation.

"The air support provided by the coalition forces increased the morale amongst the Afghan uniform police personnel," he said in a statement.

The operation comes as Pentagon chief Jim Mattis finalizes plans to present a new Afghanistan strategy to President Donald Trump in a bid to reverse what US generals call a "stalemate" at best. </s> Kabul — The Taliban captured a key district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province on Thursday while in the country’s north, an officer turned his rifle on sleeping colleagues, killing nine policemen, officials said.

The fall of Sangin district, once considered the deadliest battlefield for British and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, comes amid the insurgents’ year-long push to expand their footprint in the Taliban heartland of Helmand.

Since the withdrawal of foreign NATO combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and with only a smaller, U.S.-led advise and training mission left behind, Sangin has been seen as a major tests of whether Afghan security forces can hold off advancing Taliban fighters.

The district’s police chief, Mohammad Rasoul, said the Taliban overran Sangin centre early on Thursday morning.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, also issued a statement claiming the Taliban capture of Sangin.

Speaking to The Associated Press over the phone from several kilometres away from the district centre, Rasoul said the district headquarters had been poorly protected and that at the time of the Taliban siege, only eight policemen and 30 Afghan soldiers were on duty.

Afghan security forces were now amassing nearby for a full-scale counter-attack in a bid to retake Sangin, Rasoul added, though he did not say when the assault would occur and how many forces would be involved.

“We are preparing our reinforcements to recapture the district,” Rasoul said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Afghan military would seek the help of international coalition forces in the area.

In Kabul, a lawmaker from Sangin, Mohammad Hashim Alokzai, urged the military to move quickly to retake the district, saying its fall could have devastating consequences for Helmand, where the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah has in the past months also come under constant and heavy attack by the Taliban.

In northern Kunduz province, police spokesman Mafuz Akbari said the insider attack on Thursday that claimed the lives on nine policemen took place at a security post and that the assailant escaped under the cover of darkness.

Afghanistan has seen a spike in so-called insider attacks. In such incidents, attackers who turn their rifles and kill colleagues usually end up stealing their weapons and fleeing the scene to join insurgents.

Akbari said the assailant had gone over to the Taliban. He also claimed that the attacker and the Taliban gathered the bodies of the dead policemen and set them on fire.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the attack, but denied that a policeman had been involved or that the Taliban had burned the bodies of the policemen.

The conflicting accounts could not be immediately reconciled. The region is remote and not accessible to reporters.

Afghan forces have come under intensified pressure by insurgents in both Helmand and Kunduz.
Officials announce that Afghan security forces have retaken Nawa District from the Taliban.