Taliban kill 23 in two attacks on Afghan forces

Afghan officials said that two Taliban attacks targeted Afghan security checkpoints in the country’s west and east, killing at least 23 members of the security forces.

Afghan officials said that two Taliban attacks targeted Afghan security checkpoints in the country’s west and east, killing at least 23 members of the security forces.

In western Ghor province, Abdul Hai Khateby, the governor’s spokesman, says 18 policemen and pro-government militiamen were killed and seven were wounded in hours-long gunbattle with insurgents near Feroz Koh, the provincial capital. No group immediately took responsibility for the attack.

In eastern Logar province, Mohammad Naser Ghairat, a provincial councilman, said insurgents overran an army checkpoint in the district of Baraki Barak on Monday, killing five soldiers there.

Ghairat said four soldiers were also wounded while the Taliban captured four others. He says the insurgents stole a Humvee and ammunition from the checkpoint. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Logar attack.