Global General

NATO, Afghan forces brace for 'fighting season'

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-23 16:36

KABUL -- Afghan National Security Forces and NATO-led troops are keeping on pressure on insurgents throughout the country as Taliban insurgents have intensified their assault against forces, spokesman of NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) said on Monday.

"We will continue our campaign against al-Qaida and Taliban because there are still al-Qaida and Taliban around, here in Afghanistan particularly," Brigadier-General Josef Blotz told reporters in a weekly press briefing here.

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The spokesman for over 140,000 NATO and US forces also said "there is no reason for stopping the fight."

"We are on the offensive and at the same time need to see clearly that the insurgency is trying to regain what they have lost over the last year."

Both security forces and Taliban fighters have intensified activities to consolidate positions since the beginning of spring, known as "fighting season", in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group announced on April 30 to start spring offensive against Afghan and NATO-led international forces.

Ten people including four suicide bombers were killed on Sunday when militants seized a government agency building in eastern Khost province and begun shooting with security forces.

A day earlier on Saturday six people had been killed and 23 others injured as a suicide bomber penetrated and blew himself up inside the country's biggest military hospital in Kabul.