At least 82 Taliban insurgents were killed or wounded during a heavy clash in western Herat province of Afghanistan, the security sources said Thursday.

    The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the militants were killed during the clearance operations conducted as part of the Zafar-4 military operations. However, the local officials, said the militants were killed after launching coordinated attacks on several security posts. 

    The officials put the number of dead militants at 35 and at least 40 others were wounded, Khama news agency reported. Provincial governor’s spokesman said the militants were looking to take control of Char Qala and Sangistan areas of the city. 

    The Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report so far which comes as the group has been attempting to launch major attacks as part of its spring offensive.

    Meanwhile, the Afghan officials are optimistic that Taliban’s spring offensive has been successfully repulsed in key parts of the country and heavy casualties have bee incurred to the group’s fighters.

    The Taliban group announced its spring offensive under the name of Operation Omari last month and vowed to pursue despite efforts by the government to end the war through peaceful negotiations.

Source: QNA