Gunmen clash with Taliban in Kabul

Clashes between gunmen and the Taliban are ongoing in the Karta-e-Sakhi area of Kabul.

"Gunmen have engaged in clashes with Islamic Emirate forces in the Karta-e-Sakhi area of Kabul city," tweeted Tolo News.

Earlier Kabul security department spokesman Khalid Zadran said security forces were conducting a clearing operation when gunfire came from a house.

He said the residence was surrounded by the Taliban forces, reported Tolo News.

The residents said that the clashes are ongoing and the two sides are using heavy and light weapons.

Meanwhile, the security officials have yet to provide a comment on the number of casualties.

Notably, security conditions have deteriorated in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control last August.

Meanwhile, in this week, another explosion occurred at the Kabul International Cricket Stadium during the Shpageeza cricket tournament and as per media reports, several people were injured.

Following the explosion, a video is going viral on social media where the people are seen in panic and seeking to take shelter at a safe location.

The attacks in Afghanistan have increased since the Taliban took control of the country. Even, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), earlier this month, released a report outlining the human rights situation in Afghanistan over the 10 months since the Taliban takeover.

The report summarises UNAMA's findings with regards to the protection of civilians, extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, fundamental freedoms and the situation in places of detention. The report also contains recommendations to both the de facto authorities and the international community.

Despite an overall, significant reduction in armed violence, between mid-August 2021 and mid-June 2022, UNAMA recorded 2,106 civilian casualties.

According to the UN report, the majority of civilian casualties were attributed to targeted attacks by the armed group self-identified as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan Province against ethnic and religious minority communities in places where they go to school, worship and go about their daily lives.

Moreover, the Taliban, which has been crying for international recognition of its government in Afghanistan, has gained the spotlight once again after the US killed al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike in Kabul.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the world's most wanted terrorists and a mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, was killed in a drone strike carried out by the US in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday.