Taliban claim deadly suicide blast in Kandahar that killed a dozen Afghan security personnel
At least a dozen Afghan security forces were killed by a suicide attacker driving an explosives-packed Humvee in the southern province of Kandahar, police said yesterday.
The Taliban claimed the deadly assault on the government and police headquarters in Maroof district, which wounded four. Kandahar police spokesman Zia Durrani told AFP that the Taliban attackers had been defeated.
A police commander in Maroof, which borders Pakistan, said 14 security personnel were killed and eight wounded in the attack late on Wednesday.
“The intensity of the blast caused damage to the building and led to casualties,” he said. “The clean-up operation is under way in the area.”
The attack is the latest deadly assault by the Taliban, which has been on the offensive since US-led Nato combat troops withdrew in 2014. It now controls huge areas of territory across the country.
During a visit by US defence secretary Jim Mattis and Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg to Kabul on Wednesday, insurgents launched a volley of rockets near the city’s international airport.
A US air strike launched in support of Afghan security forces who had confronted the attackers caused “several casualties” when a missile malfunctioned.
One person was killed and 11 others wounded in the assault that lasted several hours, the interior ministry said.