Taliban massacre 28 police officers in southern Afghanistan
At least 28 Afghan police officers are massacred by the Taliban militants at security checkpoints in southern Afghanistan.
The killings took place in the Gizab district of the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan late on Tuesday.
The provincial governor’s spokesman, Zelgai Ebadi, said on Wednesday that the Taliban militants had offered 28 local and national police officials a chance to go home if they surrendered. “But after taking their guns, the Taliban killed them all,” he said.
Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the killings, which he said were carried out after police in the area refused to surrender to them.
Another local official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, put the toll at 28-30 policemen, adding that three policemen had managed to escape.
Reinforcements were not able to get to the outposts in time, but Ebadi said Afghan security forces were later back in control of the checkpoints.
The Wednesday killings come after 24 members of Afghan security forces were killed in a Taliban attack on checkpoints in Uruzgan on Sunday.
The latest violence comes as “peace” talks are underway between the Afghan government and the Taliban militant group in the Qatari capital of Doha.
The talks started in Doha on September 12 following months of delay over a contentious prisoner swap between the two sides.
The negotiations are taking place as part of a deal between the Taliban and the United States signed in February, according to which all foreign forces would withdraw from Afghanistan by May next year.
Under the deal with the US, the Taliban agreed to stop their attacks on US-led foreign forces Afghanistan but not on Afghan security forces and civilians.
Official data shows that bombings and other assaults by the Taliban have surged by 70 percent since the militant group signed the deal with the US in February.
The Taliban have said they would not commit to a reduction in violence until the terms of a ceasefire are negotiated.
The United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled a Taliban regime in 2001. Two decades later, it has had to negotiate its way out of the Afghan war.
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