More than two dozen security personnel, including police and army, have been killed in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan and Kunduz provinces over the past two days as Taliban fighters intensified activities in the country's northern region, officials said on Wednesday.
At least 13 troopers, including the army and police personnel, have been confirmed dead as the Taliban fighters stormed security checkpoints in Dasht-e-Archi district of the restive Kunduz province early Wednesday, a member of the provincial council Safiullah Amiri confirmed.
District governor Nasrudin Nazari Saadi has confirmed the fighting but insisted that the attacking militants have fled the area after four hours of fighting and leaving 15 bodies behind, Xinhua reported.
Taliban claims that more than 30 were killed
Zabihullah Majahid, who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit, in contact with the media claimed that more than 30 soldiers had been killed in the raid.
The Taliban fighters also attacked a police security checkpoint in the neighboring Baghlan province on Tuesday night, killing 12 police personnel.
Mohammad Safdar Mohsini, head of the Baghlan Provincial Council, has confirmed that a group of Taliban militants launched a multi-pronged offensive on the police checkpoint in Khawja Alwan area outside provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri in the wee hours of Tuesday, killing 12 policemen and wounding three others.
An increase in militancy has made the country's ranking security officials visit the northern provinces and chalk out a plan to tackle the issue.
