More than 100 police officers and soldiers have been killed in the southeastern Afghan city of Ghazni in three days, a hospital official said on Sunday, as fighting continued in the strategic city, where Taliban insurgents have seized control of most neighborhoods.<\/span><\/p>\n The insurgents have also begun spreading into districts outside Ghazni city, two of which fell to them overnight, according to reports from local residents and Afghan officials.<\/span><\/p>\n Baz Mohammad Hemat, the director of the Ghazni Hospital, said by telephone that 113 bodies had been taken to the hospital, along with 142 wounded, most of them in uniform.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re running out of hospital rooms; we are using corridors and available space everywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cFighting is quite close to the hospital. The situation is really bad here. We\u2019re receiving more and more wounded and dead every hour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The death toll appeared sure to rise, with numerous reports of bodies left unrecovered around the city. An additional 100 Afghan soldiers and police officers have been killed in fighting in other parts of the country over the past two days, officials said, a remarkably high death toll on top of the violence in Ghazni city.<\/span><\/p>\n The fall of Ghazni would be the Taliban\u2019s most important victory yet, as the city is on the main north-south highway, and its capture would effectively cut the capital and the north from the insurgents\u2019 Pashtun homeland in the south.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHeavy fighting is ongoing around the governor\u2019s office, the Police Headquarters and the compound of the intelligence agency,\u201d said Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, a member of the provincial council. \u201cThe forces in Ghazni have resisted well, but naturally they have fought so long. The reinforcements have not done anything effective, all they have done is establish a base for themselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He added, \u201cBodies are lying around, they have decomposed, and no one is doing anything to evacuate them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Afghan Minister of Public Health, Ferozuddin Feroz, said he had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross for \u201curgent help\u201d in transporting the wounded out of Ghazni.<\/span><\/p>\n We are closely following the situation in Ghazni. We\u2019ve supplied body bags to the provincial hospital and we are ready to provide more assistance as soon the situation allows. #Ghazni<\/a> #Afghanistan<\/a><\/p>\n — ICRC Afghanistan (@ICRC_af) August 12, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n