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A city in southwestern Afghanistan has become the country’s first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in recent years.
Multiple local officials said the Taliban had captured Zaranj, in Nimroz province, on Friday afternoon, in a significant blow to government forces.
Rebels from Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region on Thursday seized Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the neighbouring Amhara region famed for its 12th-century rock-hewn churches, residents told AFP.
“They came in the afternoon, and there was not any fighting. There were no security forces around. The TPLF forces are in the town now,” said one resident, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
Fighting is raging around three major cities in southern and western Afghanistan as Taliban militants seek to seize them from government forces.
Taliban fighters have entered parts of Herat, Lashkar Gah and Kandahar.