Taliban assaults leave dozens dead across the country

KABUL, Afghanistan — A wave of Taliban attacks and violence has killed dozens across Afghanistan, even as talks are underway between the government and the insurgents in Qatar, officials said Tuesday.

A statement from the defense ministry said four army soldiers were killed late Monday night in Taliban attacks on checkpoints in Kunduz province.

According to the ministry, 15 Taliban fighters also were killed and 12 were wounded. The details were impossible to independently verify as Kunduz is off limits to journalists and the Taliban hold sway across most of the province’s rural areas.

But Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a provincial council member in Kunduz, gave a significantly higher casualty toll. At least 25 members of the security forces were killed by the Taliban in separate attacks in the Dasht-e-Archi district, including 13 soldiers and four policemen, he said.

At least eight other soldiers were killed near Kunduz city, the provincial capital, he said. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the insurgents were behind all the attacks. The Taliban seized weapons and ammunition from the checkpoints, he said.

Meanwhile, in southern Helmand province, administrator Abdul Zahir Haqyar was shot and killed by unknown gunmen Monday night, Helmand provincial Gov. Abdul Nabi Elham said.

Two of Haqyar’s bodyguards were wounded in the shooting. No one immediately claimed responsibility for that attack.

And in southern Urozgan province, at least 10 people, including women and children, were wounded when a sticky bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded, according to provincial Gov. Mohammad Omar Sherzad.

A private car belonging to police officers was the target of the explosion, he said.