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Four police forces killed in Taliban ambush: Afghan official

Afghan security forces patrol during a military operation in the province of Helmand on August 12, 2016, following clashes with Taliban militants. (Photo by AFP)

Taliban militants have killed at least four Afghan border policemen in an attack in the country’s southern province of Zabul, an official says.

The fatalities took place in the town of Zanjir, located in Shamlzai district on Sunday, when the militants ambushed police posts and killed the forces that were patrolling on foot in the mountainous area, according to Bismullah Afghanmal, the provincial governor of Zabul.

He said several Taliban militants had been killed in the attack but declined to provide any additional details.

Local police confirmed the report, adding that one police officer was also wounded in the attack.

Meanwhile, residents in Zanjir area said that the Taliban militants closed off their local clinic following the attack.

Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the US and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror in 2001. Many parts of the country still remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

Taliban militants have been removed from power, but they have stepped up their activities in recent months, attempting to overrun several provinces.

This file photo shows Daesh Takfiri militants in an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.

Afghan forces are engaged in fierce clashes with the Taliban militants to contain the ongoing insurgency across various parts of the country.

30 Daesh terrorists killed in Nangarhar

In a separate report on Monday, a police official said 30 members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group had been killed over the past 24 hours in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar.

Provincial police spokesman Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal said the fatalities occurred during Afghan airstrikes and ground attacks, adding that there were no casualties among the Afghan government forces.

Nangarhar has been a main base for the activities of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in eastern Afghanistan over the past months after they first emerged in the war-torn country last year.

Over the past months, Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in Daesh terror activities, particularly in its eastern regions.

Daesh, mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has reportedly managed to take recruits from Taliban defectors in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan.

In August, Daesh claimed responsibility for a bombing during a demonstration held by the Shia Hazara community in Kabul, where at least 85 people were killed and more than 400 others wounded.


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