Taliban kill 11 police officers in attacks on Helmand checkpoints

At least 11 Afghan police officers were killed yesterday when Taliban fighters attacked their checkpoints in the volatile province of Helmand in southern Afghanistan.

The assaults on two police posts were the latest in a series of deadly raids on Afghan security forces claimed by the Taliban.

The attacks took place in the early morning in the Qalai Sang area of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. “Our police fought them back, but unfortunately 11 of our police were martyred and two wounded,” said provincial governor Hayatullah Hayat.

He said the militants fled after the attack.

Provincial police chief Ghafar Safi said 15 Taliban fighters were also killed during the skirmish.

After 16 years of war, the resurgent militants show no signs of fatigue, ramping up their deadly campaign against beleaguered government forces amid rising insecurity in the war-torn country .

Afghan police and troops – beset by a high death toll, desertions and non-existent “ghost soldiers” on the payroll – have been struggling to repulse the insurgents since US-led Nato troops ended their combat mission in December 2014.

Also yesterday, a suicide car bomb attack targeting Nato forces in the neighbouring province of Kandahar killed at least one woman and wounded four other Afghan civilians, said the provincial police chief, Gen Abdul Razeq.

A Nato spokesman in the capital city Kabul said the organisation was still checking reports to establish the details of the attack.

A suicide car bomb attack also hit Nato forces in the neighbouring province of Kandahar, killing at least one woman