Taliban kill 15 troops, 4 police: Afghan officials

The Taliban on Thursday struck their terror in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz, leaving 15 soldiers dead and four policemen in western Farah province, officials said.

In Kunduz, Taliban militants tried to overrun a military security post using artillery shells, as per the army spokesperson Mohammad Hanif Rezaie.

Along with the 15 killed, at least 13 other soldiers were heavily wounded in the four-hour long battle, he added.

However, Mohammad Yosuf Ayubi, the head of the provincial council, said as many as 30 soldiers were killed and the exact death tolls could not be immediately reconciled.

In the attack in Farah, the Taliban targeted a police checkpoint, governor’s spokesman Mohammad Naser Mehri said.

The Taliban have not so far claimed either attack but the insurgents have recently stepped up assaults in both provinces and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

A roadside bomb struck a vehicle in Farah’s Khak-e Safad district on Wednesday, killing five civilians, including two women and a small child. That same day, two suicide bombers stormed an education department building in eastern Nangarhar province, killing at least 10 people. Both the Taliban and an Islamic State group affiliate are active in Nangarhar.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has repeatedly extended calls to the Taliban for peace talks but the insurgents have rejected them outright.

NATO leaders are expected to discuss Afghanistan later on Thursday at their summit in Brussels during which the alliance is expected to make a commitment to keep funding the Afghan army and its training mission.

(With inputs from agencies)