The strategic city of Sheberghan, the capital of Jawzjan province in northern Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban after one week of clashes, sources confirmed to ToloNews.
Sources said that security forces are stationed only at the provincial airport in Khwaja Dako district, which is the hometown of former vice president Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum and is located 17 kilometers from the city of Sheberghan.
Sheberghan is the second provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in the last two days.
The group took over Zaranj city, the capital of Nimroz province, in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday that was the first province to fall to the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan government National Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said on Saturday that Afghan security forces had killed 385 Taliban members and wounded 210 others across Afghanistan over the past 24 hours.
The spokesman said that the Taliban militants were killed or injured in operations by Afghan security forces across the country in the province of Nangarhar, Logar, Ghazni, Paktika, Wardak, Kandahar, Herat, Farah, Jawzjan, Samangan, Helmand, Takhar, Baghlan and Kapisa provinces.
KI/5275806/PR