Afghan security forces have claimed victory in a major battle against a Taliban offensive in the country's volatile Helmand province.
Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said that the Taliban offensive has been beaten back, adding their plans to gain territory and capture districts have totally been foiled.
He further said that some 260 of the terrorists and 28 Afghan forces personnel were killed in the fighting.
According to Dawn, the victory comes following days of fighting seen as a test for the country's security forces as Nato-led troops prepare to pull out.
Sediqqi said that while government forces were fighting to take back the areas they had lost to the Taliban in the early days of the offensive, their progress had been "slow" as the areas that the Taliban had been pushed out of were "heavily mined," the report said.
An Afghan army corps officer in Helmand said that the military also forced the Taliban to retreat from three other districts - Kajaki, Nawzad and Musa Qala - which they had attacked at the start of their offensive.
However, a Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, refuted the claim made by the government, saying that fighting was still going on in Sangin, the report added.
