47 dead in attacks on Afghanistan forces

GARDEZ: Two separate suicide and gun attacks on government forces in Afghanistan left 47 dead and more than 200 wounded, officials said on Tuesday.

The Taliban claimed the most deadly of the two assaults, a coordinated attack on police in the southeast city of Gardez that left hospitals calling for blood donations and desperate scenes as relatives queued for news of their loved ones.

A separate ambush blamed on the Taliban in Ghazni killed 15 security officials.

The first attack, claimed by the Taliban in a tweet, began when two suicide car bombs blew up near the training centre, which is close to the Paktia police headquarters, making way for the gunmen to start their assault.

“Most of the victims are civilians who had come to the police headquarters to get their passports and national IDs,” according to a statement from the Paktia governor’s office.

The battle between the attackers, armed with guns and suicide vests, and security forces lasted around five hours before it ended with all five militants killed, officials said.

The second attack, in Ghazni, involved insurgents detonating an explosives-laden Humvee vehicle near a police headquarters and attackers storming the building, Haref Noori, the Ghazni governor’s spokesman, told AFP.

“Dozens of Taliban” were killed in the attack, Ghazni police chief Mohammad Zaman said.

The attacks came one day after four-way talks between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China were held in Oman with the aim of ending the Taliban’s 16-year insurgency. They also came hours after a US drone strike in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal district, part of which borders Paktia, killed at least 26 Haqqani militants, officials have said.