Taliban raid checkpoints, kill 20 policemen in southern Afghanistan
Taliban militants have killed at least 20 Afghan policemen and injured more than a dozen others during attacks on checkpoints in Afghanistan’s volatile south.
Afghan officials said the attacks occurred early on Sunday, when the militants stormed multiple security outposts in the southern province of Zabul.
“This morning, a group of Taliban militants armed with heavy and light weapons launched coordinated attacks on several police checkpoints in the Shah Joy district of Zabul Province, killing 20 policemen,” said Bismillah Afghanmal, the provincial governor.
A district official said that at least 15 police officers also sustained injuries in the fighting and that reinforcements were sent to secure the area.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks on its website.
A couple of days earlier, the Taliban militants launched attacks on parts of the central-eastern Afghan city of Ghazni, driving a Humvee packed with explosives into the entrance of a district governor’s compound in the assaults.
The latest development comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 security forces in northern Balkh Province, in the deadliest raid on an Afghan military base.
In late April, the militant group announced the start of its so-called spring offensive, a heightened campaign of bombings, ambush attacks, and other raids across Afghanistan that begins as weather conditions improve.
Over 1,000 members of Afghan security forces as well as over 700 civilians have so far been killed this year, according to Afghan authorities and figures cited by the US-based Congressional watchdog Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
Russia decides 'at highest level' to remove Taliban from list of terrorists
Dozen killed in Daesh attack on Hazaras welcoming Karbala pilgrims
UN warns Daesh Afghanistan branch growing in strength
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
Iranian satellites launched into space as private sector debuts in space industry
VIDEO | Iran, Azerbaijan conduct joint maritime rescue operations
VIDEO | Yemen’s Red Sea divide: Naval forces block Israeli-linked ships in strategic ‘parting of the water’
VIDEO | Southern Gaza: Israel’s facade for famine and suffering
VIDEO | IOF hampering humanitarian aid
VIDEO | Sharmahd: Justice Done
Iran repeatedly warned Israel not to test its will: FM
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
