Taliban attack army base, kill 17 Afghan soldiers
A young girl was killed and three others were wounded in a crossfire
KABUL: The Taliban have attacked an army base in western Afghanistan, killing 17 Afghan soldiers and abducting 11 others, oficials said on Sunday.
Ghausuddin Noorzai, the district chief in Pusht Rod, said another four soldiers were wounded in the attack, which began late Saturday and continued into Sunday morning. He said the Taliban also overran two checkpoints near the base, seizing weapons and ammunition.
Abdul Samad Salehi, a member of the provincial council in Farah, conirmed the death toll and said the troops defending the base received no air support or reinforcements.
The Taliban claimed the attack, the latest in their near-daily assaults on Afghan security forces. The Taliban have seized a number of districts across the country in recent years as Afghan forces have struggled to hold rural areas and defend against coordinated attacks.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a young girl was killed and three others were wounded in the crossire of a battle between Afghan forces and the Taliban in the western Herat province, according to Gelani Farhad, the spokesman for provincial governor.
Farhad said the main highway between the southern province of Kandahar and Herat was blocked for several hours.
The death toll from an attack on an election rally on Saturday in the northern Takhar province meanwhile climbed from 14 to 22, according to Jawad Hajri, a spokesman for the provincial governor.