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At least 16 killed in Taliban attack on army base in Baghlan
[Al Jazeera] At least 12 army soldiers were killed in a Taliban...Arabic for students... attack on Saturday on a small military base in Afghanistan's northern Baghlan province, officials said. The Taliban left behind explosives that then killed four tribal elders who had come to help collect the soldiers' bodies, according to Afghan officials. Safder Mohsini, head of the provincial council in Baghlan, said the group also kidnapped two soldiers and maimed three others in the attack. He said Taliban fighters burned down the base before planting bombs around it. The Taliban grabbed credit for the assault and said they seized ammunition from the base. The group carries out near-daily attacks, mainly targeting Afghan cops stationed in rural outposts. Taliban fighters have ramped up attacks on Afghan cops and government facilities in recent months, leaving troops thinly stretched throughout the country. The latest phase of Afghanistan's decades-old war began in 2001, when the US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. A US watchdog agency said last week that the Afghan government was struggling to recover control of districts lost to the Taliban while casualties among security forces had reached record levels. Posted by: Fred 2018-11-12 |
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