A surprise attack by the Taliban kills 25 Afghan police and spotlights security failures

Reporting from KABUL, Afghanistan —  Taliban militants launched surprise attacks against multiple police checkpoints in southern Afghanistan and killed at least 25 officers, officials said Sunday.

Officials in Zabol province said that militants from several provinces carried out the attacks against government installations in the provincial capital, Qalat, and three police posts in Shahjoy district late Saturday.

The provincial governor, Bismillah Afghanmal, said 25 police officers were killed and six wounded. The victims included members of both the Afghan National Police and the Afghan Local Police, a U.S.-funded government militia that provides security in rural areas.

Officials said some civilians had also been harmed, but there were no immediate details.

Reached by phone Sunday, Bakht Mohammad, an Afghan Local Police commander in Shahjoy, said fighting with the Taliban was continuing.

“I can see some dead bodies of the Taliban on the ground,” Mohammad said, adding that a Taliban leader had been killed in the clashes.

“The Taliban fighters are surrounded. We will expel them all.”

Atta Jan Haqbayan, head of the elected provincial council in Zabol, said Taliban fighters from three provinces were attempting to capture the district, part of the militant group’s drive to increase its share of territory in outlying parts of Afghanistan. The U.S. military estimates that more than 40% of the Afghan population lives under areas of either total or partial Taliban control.

The Afghan security forces “suffered big casualties and the fighting is still going on,” Haqbayan said. “We also have civilian casualties. The [Afghan Local Police] is running out of ammo and isn’t getting backup on time.”

Tolo News, an Afghan news organization, said that local officials in Zabol complained that they could not immediately reach their superiors to request assistance after the fighting began.

Shafiqullah, a 28-year-old school principal in Shahjoy who goes by only one name, said he took shelter in his house and could hear bullets and rocket fire nearby.

“The attack was huge,” he said Sunday afternoon. “But half an hour ago some backup arrived [for Afghan forces] and the fighting resumed.”

The reports underscored worries that the Afghan security forces are often outgunned by the Taliban, which is adept at mounting surprise attacks.

President Trump is reportedly weighing whether to send as many as 5,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to increase assistance to Afghan soldiers and police. There are currently fewer than 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

In a separate incident in Kabul, gunmen attacked a guesthouse occupied by foreign aid workers, killing a German woman and an Afghan security guard, authorities said. A second woman, a Finnish national, was missing and Afghan officials believe she was kidnapped.

The two women were members of the staff of Operation Mercy, a Swedish charity organization, said Cathy Stanley, a spokeswoman for the group.

Foreign nationals have often been targeted by armed men and militant groups in Afghanistan. In August, an American and an Australian working for the American University of Afghanistan were kidnapped by gunmen in Kabul.

In January, the Taliban released a video in which the men pleaded with then-President-elect Trump — who was about to be inaugurated — to secure their release. They are still being held.

Special correspondent Faizy reported from Kabul and Times staff writer Bengali from Mumbai, India.

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