Attack nearly wipes out an army camp
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An Afghan Army unit in the south of the country was almost completely wiped out Thursday, defense officials said, in a Taliban attack that used what is becoming one of the group’s deadliest tactics: packing vehicles captured from security forces with explosives and driving them into military and police compounds.
At least 43 soldiers were killed in the predawn attack, out of a unit of 60 based in Maywand district in Kandahar province, the Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement. Only two soldiers were found unhurt. Nine were wounded, and six were missing.
“The whole base is destroyed,” said Gen. Dawlat Waziri, a ministry spokesman. “When the clashes started, they detonated a car bomb close to the base, then clashes continued for a while and then they detonated another car bomb. They also had Humvees packed with explosives.”
Two similar attacks Tuesday inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan security forces. In those episodes, more than 40 police officers were killed in Afghanistan’s southeast, in the provinces of Ghazni and Paktia. Both involved insurgents taking captured vehicles, including Humvees paid for by the U.S. military, packing them with explosives and detonating them at the compounds.
Considering the number of such vehicles at the Taliban’s disposal, security officials and analysts fear this tactic will inflict heavier casualties on Afghanistan’s already struggling security forces.
As the Taliban overran districts in the south of the country, and then briefly captured the northern city of Kunduz in 2015 and then again last year, officials expressed concern that they might deploy the army and police vehicles they took with them in future operations against the Afghan forces. Militants have long disguised themselves in Afghan security uniforms in their raids, and using security forces’ vehicles would make them more complicated to spot at checkpoints or at the gates of security compounds.
During a visit to Kunduz in 2015 by President Ashraf Ghani, the province’s interim governor warned about weapons and vehicles captured by the Taliban.
Safar Mohammed, deputy police chief of Kunduz, estimates that the Taliban have captured about 20 Humvees from Afghan forces in the province, and about 60 to 70 Ranger pickup trucks.