The New York Times :
Taliban insurgents killed at least 57 Afghan police officers and soldiers in four attacks in northern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after more than 60 people were killed in a separate barrage, Afghan officials said.
The insurgents carried out simultaneous assaults on six outposts in the strategic Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province just after midnight, killing seven police officers and 13 soldiers, according to Mullah Akhtar Kaker, the local police commander in the district.
Other officials confirmed the violence in Kunduz province with slightly different casualty figures. The district governor, Nasruddin Saadi, put the death toll at 19, with an additional 22 officers and soldiers wounded.
The other attacks in the north were at widely scattered locations. The insurgents killed 14 police officers and militiamen in Samangan province and 17 other police officers and soldiers in Sar-i-Pul province.
In the fourth episode, in Jowzjan province, Taliban insurgents Monday
captured the government centre of Khamab district, according to Faqir Mohammad Jowzjani, the provincial police chief.
Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed while others fled to the district police headquarters nearby, where fighting continued to rage, according to Babur Ishchi, the head of Jowzjan’s provincial council.
“Ninety police officers and soldiers are surrounded by the Taliban,” Ishchi said. “They have not received any support yet.” Khamab became the latest of more than 20 of Afghanistan’s 407 government districts to fall to insurgent control. Forty or more other districts are listed by the US military as “insurgent influenced,” and many others as contested.
Taliban insurgents killed at least 57 Afghan police officers and soldiers in four attacks in northern Afghanistan on Monday, a day after more than 60 people were killed in a separate barrage, Afghan officials said.
The insurgents carried out simultaneous assaults on six outposts in the strategic Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province just after midnight, killing seven police officers and 13 soldiers, according to Mullah Akhtar Kaker, the local police commander in the district.
Other officials confirmed the violence in Kunduz province with slightly different casualty figures. The district governor, Nasruddin Saadi, put the death toll at 19, with an additional 22 officers and soldiers wounded.
The other attacks in the north were at widely scattered locations. The insurgents killed 14 police officers and militiamen in Samangan province and 17 other police officers and soldiers in Sar-i-Pul province.
In the fourth episode, in Jowzjan province, Taliban insurgents Monday
captured the government centre of Khamab district, according to Faqir Mohammad Jowzjani, the provincial police chief.
Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed while others fled to the district police headquarters nearby, where fighting continued to rage, according to Babur Ishchi, the head of Jowzjan’s provincial council.
“Ninety police officers and soldiers are surrounded by the Taliban,” Ishchi said. “They have not received any support yet.” Khamab became the latest of more than 20 of Afghanistan’s 407 government districts to fall to insurgent control. Forty or more other districts are listed by the US military as “insurgent influenced,” and many others as contested.
