Taliban attack targets, kills Afghan security forces
October 13, 2014
A Taliban ambush has killed at least 14 Afghan security personnel in northern Afghanistan, according to local authorities.
The early morning attack was carried out on a police convoy in the mountainous province of Sari Pul, south east of Masaar-i-Sharif.
"They were ambushed as they were going from Laghman area to Alaf Safid. Twenty-two police were martyred, eight wounded and seven were taken captive," provincial governor Abdul Jabar Haqbin told AFP, adding that around 10 police vehicles had been set alight.
""Twenty-three Taliban insurgents were also killed in a four-hour gun battle," Haqbin said.
He added that 17 soldiers had been wounded and six taken hostage.
The attack happened on the same day that villagers in another province reported that a NATO airstrike had killed seven civilians in the east of the country.
The airstrike hit a village Sunday on the outskirts of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, police official Noor Zaman Khan said.
NATO officials could not be reached for comment on the airstrike.
In another attack, a suicide bomber is said to have blown himself up in his car on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, killing one person.
The incidents are indicative of the hardships facing the government of new President Ashraf Ghani, which was formed two weeks ago, before signing security agreements with the US and NATO.
sb/jr (AFP, AP, dpa)