Taliban kill 22 Afghan police in separate attacks over weekend

The Taliban militants have killed at least 22 Afghan policemen in separate attacks on checkpoints over the weekend across various regions of the war-ravaged country.

In the latest blow to the country's beleaguered security forces, at least 13 officers were killed after militants wearing night-vision goggles launched a pre-dawn assault on a police post in Khan Abad district in the northern province of Kunduz on Sunday.

Provincial police chief Abdul Hamid Hamid said that only one policeman survived the deadly raid. District governor Hayatullah Amiri also said that the assailants destroyed the checkpoint and stole a Humvee (military vehicle).

Separately, Taliban attackers on Saturday killed nine policemen and wounded two others stationed at checkpoints in Ghazni, the capital of the southeastern province of the same name.

According to Mohammad Arif Noori, the provincial governor's spokesman, 12 militants were also killed and four wounded in the ensuing fierce clashes.

The Taliban militants have intensified attacks across Afghanistan, with the last two weeks being particularly deadly for Afghan forces.

On October 24, militants launched coordinated attacks on two military bases in two neighboring provinces in western Afghanistan, leaving at least 11 soldiers dead and several others injured.

PressTV-Taliban storm Afghan military bases, kill 11

The militants targeted two military posts in western Afghanistan.

On October 19, a Taliban assault on a military compound left 43 soldiers dead in the southern province of Kandahar.

The Afghan Defense Ministry's deputy spokesman, Mohammad Radmanesh, earlier said that the militants had acquired "dozens" of armored Humvees and pickup trucks in recent years.

The militants have warned that there will be no letup in their attacks until foreign forces fully withdraw from Afghanistan, which is still suffering from insecurity and violence years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The invasion removed the Taliban from power, but militancy continues to this day. Taking advantage of the chaos, Daesh has also emerged in Afghanistan.

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