Taliban leadership on Monday called on its fighters to resume attacks on Afghan security forces, and since then scores of attacks by the group’s fighters have been reported across the country and dozens of Afghan security force members have been killed and wounded.
On Tuesday the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the European Union (EU) called for a continued reduction in violence plan to help build an environment favorable for the start of intra-Afghan talks.
At least 16 Afghan Army soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack on Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, Afghan security sources told TOLOnews on Wednesday.
Another ten soldiers were taken hostage by the Taliban, said the source.
Also, Fatima Aziz, a PM from Kunduz, said “16 were killed Baghe Shirkat.”
Meanwhile, there are reports of separate Taliban attacks in Zabul, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces where several members of Afghan National Police (ANP) were killed and wounded.
In Uruzgan province, at least 6 ANP officers were killed in a Taliban attack in Trinkot, Uruzgan province, said Zargai Ebadi, a provincial governor spokesperson. He also said another eight officers were wounded and claimed that eight Taliban fighters were killed and four others were wounded in the clash, said Ebadi.
In the southern province of Helmand, two Afghan National Army soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack on their checkpoint in Washir district of on Tuesday night, Omar Zuwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor said on Wednesday.
In Zabul province, at least one police officer was killed in a Taliban attack, police officials in the province said, but they did not provide any further details about the incident.
In the northern province of Baghlan, security officials have said that the Taliban launched a coordinated attack on the checkpoint of local police near Pul-e-Khumri city, killing at least two members of the local police force, said officials.
One police and two Taliban fighters were wounded in the attack, said the officials.
Amid the surging Taliban violence, the Afghan Ministry of Interior meanwhile said that the Afghan forces have repelled a Taliban attack in Akbar Khan and Qulbras village of Kunduz.
“3 Taliban were killed, four wounded and one was arrested after ANDSF repelled a Taliban attack in Akbar Khan and Qulbras villages,” on the Kunduz-Takhar highway, said the Ministry of Interior. “Mulavi Bashir, the military commission chief of the Taliban” was also killed, according to the MoI.
