Taliban attacks kill 9 soldiers, policemen

KABUL – A new wave of Taliban attacks killed at least nine Afghan soldiers and policemen on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a particularly deadly week of assaults by militants.

At least five soldiers were killed when their checkpoint was attacked by the Taliban in western Farah province, according to Mohammad Naser Mehri, the provincial governor’s spokesman.

Two soldiers were wounded in that attack, in the Bala Buluk district. Mehri said six Taliban fighters were killed and three others were wounded in the battle, which lasted several hours.

“Reinforcements have arrived and right now, the situation is under control,” he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in Farah but Mehri blamed the Taliban who have stepped up attacks against Afghan security forces.

The Taliban did, however, claim another attack in Afghanistan on Tuesday, in eastern Ghazni province that killed at least four members of the local police force and wounded seven.

The attack in Ghazni took place in the district of Jaghatu, where insurgents targeted the local police security post, said Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor. He said the gunbattle lasted several hours and that the Taliban used artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the Ghazni attack in a message to the media.

It has been a particularly deadly week in Afghanistan.

The Health Ministry in Kabul on Tuesday raised the death toll from a horrific suicide bombing by Daesh (ISIS) earlier this week to 60, after three more of the wounded had died in hospital.

The ministry also said the number of wounded from Sunday’s attack, which targeted a voter registration center in Kabul, was at 130 after all the data was collected, including from private hospitals the casualties were also taken to as state hospitals were overwhelmed immediately after the bombing.

On Monday, Taliban attacks in western Afghanistan killed 18 soldiers and policemen.