Officials: Taliban seize two districts, kill wounded police

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN » Taliban fighters overran a second district headquarters in as many days on Sunday, this one in western Ghor province, the provincial police chief said.

At least eight police were killed in separate battles against Taliban militants, who have stepped up their attacks in the north and west of the country laying siege to district headquarters, said Mohammad Mustafa Moseni.

Moseni said the Taliban launched four assaults on Ghor’s Taywara district headquarters early Sunday and “we had no choice but to retreat.” He said police have taken up positions about 5 miles from the district headquarters while they wait for reinforcements to launch a counterattack.

After capturing Taywara district Taliban fighters stalked the corridors of the only hospital looking for wounded Afghan National Security personnel to kill, said provincial public health department director Ghulam Nabi Yaghana. He said he received reports that they killed four or five patients.

SANTI PALACIOS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sea rescue: An African migrant tries to reach a rescue boat from the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms, after being located sailing out of control on a punctured rubber boat in the Mediterranean Sea, about 12 miles north of Sabratha, Libya, on Sunday.