Taliban target Afghan army in country’s north, kill 6 troops
A powerful suicide car bombing targeted an Afghan
army compound in the country’s north on Thursday morning, killing six Afghan
soldiers, the defense ministry said. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility
for the attack.
Shortly after the bomber detonated his car laden
with explosives outside the small military base in Balkh province, a group of
insurgents stormed into the compound, setting off a shootout with Afghan
forces.
The defense ministry said in a statement that three
Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the explosion and the ensuing “terrorist
attack.” The provincial governor’s spokesman, Munir Farhad, said fighting
inside the compound continued for hours before the attackers were repelled.
The Taliban, however, claimed they inflicted a far
greater number of casualties and also that they captured the base and seized
huge quantities of weapons and ammunition, according to a tweet by their
spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid. The militants routinely exaggerate their claims.
Afghan ministry of defense rejects the Taliban
claim, saying the insurgents had not taken the base.
The Taliban have been active in Balk in recent days.
They targeted an army checkpoint in the province’s district of Dawlat Abad on
Tuesday, killing at least seven Afghan soldiers and wounding six other members
of the security forces — three soldiers and three intelligence agents. At the
time, the Taliban said they also captured four Afghan troops and seized weapons
and ammunition form the checkpoint.
The Taliban now control or hold sway over
practically half of Afghanistan but continue to stage near-daily attacks
targeting Afghan and U.S. forces, as well as government officials — even as
they hold peace talks with a U.S. envoy tasked with negotiating an end to the
18-year conflict, America’s longest war. Scores of Afghan civilians are also
killed in the crossfire or by roadside bombs planted by militants.
Also Thursday, a roadside bombing struck a police
patrol in eastern Khost province, wounding at least five policemen, said Talib
Mangal, the provincial governor’s spokesman.
