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Taliban kill 25 policemen in southern Afghanistan; two dead in Kabul guesthouse attack


waqas dar

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142738_1414526_updates.jpgFile photo: AFP

KANDAHAR: Around 25 Afghan policemen were killed early Sunday when Taliban fighters stormed multiple security outposts in the volatile southern province of Zabul, officials said, as the insurgents escalate their annual spring offensive.

Local officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations to seek attention as they were unable to get hold of senior authorities for help, highlighting the disarray in security ranks.

The coordinated attack is another stinging blow to NATO-backed Afghan forces. It comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 security forces in northern Balkh province, in the deadliest insurgent attack on an Afghan military base.

"This morning, a group of Taliban fighters armed with heavy and light weapons launched coordinated attacks on several police checkpoints in Shah Joy district of Zabul province, killing 20 policemen," provincial governor Bismillah Afghanmal told AFP.

A district official told AFP that at least 15 others were wounded in the fighting.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on their website. The raid, the latest in a series of brazen Taliban assaults, underscores the insurgents´ growing strength more than 15 years since they were ousted from power by the US invasion of 2001.

Taliban militants launched their annual "spring offensive" in late April, heralding a surge in fighting as the US tries to craft a new Afghan strategy and NATO considers sending more troops to break the stalemate against the resurgent militants.

The offensive normally marks the start of the fighting season, though this winter the Taliban continued to battle government forces.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis last month warned of "another tough year" for security forces in Afghanistan.

His comments came after Taliban fighters dressed in army uniforms and armed with suicide vests attacked a military base outside the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last month, killing at least 135 policemen and soldiers.

The brazen attack prompted fury in Afghanistan, leading to the resignations of defence minister Abdullah Habibi and army chief Qadam Shah Shaheem.

The US State Department denounced the "barbaric, unconscionable" attack, but stressed that America has no intention of giving up on the country despite more than 15 years of brutal war.

The Pentagon has asked the White House to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan to break the deadlocked fight against the Taliban.

US troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 today, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who also mainly serve in an advisory capacity -- a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago.

German and Afghan guard killed in Kabul guest house attack

Gunmen attacked an international guest house in Kabul, killing a German woman and an Afghan guard, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

A Finnish woman is missing and presumed to have been kidnapped in the raid late Saturday, officials added.

The guest house was run by a Swedish NGO Operation Mercy, whose director Scott Breslin told local news agency TT that the organisation is holding a crisis meeting.

"A Finnish lady was kidnapped from police district (three) last night at 11.30. A German lady and an Afghan guard were killed," interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said on Twitter.

A Finnish foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that a Finnish citizen has been kidnapped in Kabul.

"We can confirm that we know about this but we are not giving details at the moment. The only thing we can say is it is not known who the kidnappers are," said spokeswoman Karoliina Romanoff.

Operation Mercy´s Breslin told TT in a brief statement: "We know that she´s missing, we will send out a press release later."

The kidnapping of foreigners has been on the rise in Afghanistan, with criminal gangs staging abductions for ransom or handing the victims over to militant groups.

In August last year gunmen wearing military uniforms kidnapped two professors of the American University of Afghanistan in the heart of Kabul.

The two, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weekes, appeared in a Taliban hostage video that surfaced in January, the first apparent proof that they were alive.


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