Taliban seize district center in N. Afghanistan, attack army base in south

Taliban fighters seized a district center in northern Afghanistan on Saturday. They captured the governor’s house and police headquarters in Aq Tapa, in the Qala-e Zal district of Kunduz province and Afghan government forces were fighting to drive them out, Reuters reported, citing Sayed Assadullah Sadat, a provincial council member. The Taliban’s main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said fighters had captured a police headquarters, 10 security check posts and a market in Qala-e Zal, north of Kunduz city. In the southern province of Helmand, insurgents launched a vehicle bomb attack on a military base in Nad Ali district, killing four civilians and a soldier, according to the provincial governor’s office. The latest violence came as insurgents pushed ahead with a spring offensive.