Dozens of Afghan security forces killed in Taliban raids: officials
Kabul, (MILLAT ONLINE):Dozens of Afghan police and soldiers have been killed in a wave of Taliban attacks on checkpoints in
Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday, as insurgents step up assaults on the beleaguered security forces.
The raids in the southern province of Kandahar and the western province of Farah on Monday
night came hours after a suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a US military
convoy, wounding four soldiers.
The Taliban issued statements on their social media accounts claiming the attacks.
“I can confirm that last night the Taliban launched a wave of attacks on police checkpoints
in Maiwand and Zhari districts and we lost 22 brave policemen,” Kandahar governor spokesman
Qudrat Khushbakht told AFP.
He added that 45 militants were killed during the fighting that lasted around six hours.
In one of the attacks militants used an explosives-packed police pickup to ambush a
checkpoint, Kandahar police spokesman Matiullah Helal told AFP.
At least 15 policemen were wounded in the coordinated assaults.
The attack on the US military convoy in Kandahar added to the casualty toll.
“There were a total of four US service members injured and all are in stable condition in
US medical treatment facilities,” a spokesman for NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan
said, adding there were no fatalities.
Farah governor spokesman Naser Mehri told AFP nine Afghan National Army soldiers
were killed in two separate attacks in the province bordering Iran that also claimed the lives of at
least three civilians.
“There are signs the Taliban may have used night vision technology to approach and
surprise our forces, though they were spotted before reaching the posts and suffered casualties,”
Mehri said.