BAGHLAN-E-MARKAZI, Afghanistan -- In a chaotic weekend of violence throughout Afghanistan, dozens of police officers, soldiers and civilians were killed by insurgents who, in four separate attacks, overran a military base, killed a police chief, destroyed a police post and bombed a memorial event.

In the capital, Kabul, a commemoration for a man some Afghans regard as a hero but others decry as a war criminal turned violent Sunday as suicide bombers attacked attendees, killing at least two people. Police arrested more than 100 attendees for shooting in the air.

But the deadliest single incident was the destruction by Taliban insurgents of an army base in the northern Baghlan province on Sunday, with at least 22 and as many as 40 security force members killed, local officials said.

The military installation was the second major base to fall to the insurgents in Baghlan province in the past month, and the third in northern Afghanistan during the same period.

Abdul Hai Nemati, the governor of Baghlan province, said the Afghan army base at Mangalha village, in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district just north of the provincial capital of Pul-i-Kumri, had been surrounded by insurgents.

A senior police official said the insurgents had captured the Mangalha base by Sunday and had killed 40 soldiers and national and local police officers at that installation and at smaller outposts in the area.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

A spokesman at the Defense Ministry in Kabul, Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed, claimed that local officials' description of the military facility as a base was inaccurate.

Jawed said it was a "check post" that included representatives of the Afghan army and other units. Jawed also denied that the Taliban had captured it, saying it had been abandoned by defenders.

Mohammad Safdar Mohseni, head of the Baghlan provincial council, said that even before the main base fell, the death toll Saturday was 22: 16 army soldiers, four police special forces officers and two local police officers.

Mangalha village was once a Taliban stronghold. The insurgents surrounded the military base last year, but the government reclaimed control of the area.

The insurgents destroyed another Afghan military base and a nearby police post in Baghlan province on Aug. 15, killing 39 soldiers and policemen, according to local officials. That base was also in Baghlan-e-Markazi district, in neighboring Alawuddin village.

Officials said the loss of the two bases put the entire district at risk and endangered travel on the country's main north-south highway between the capital and northern Afghanistan.

"After the first base collapsed, other military posts are collapsing one after another," said the provincial council chairman, Mohseni. "The Taliban seized a huge amount of weapons, ammunition and vehicles from these collapsed posts. This is a big threat for the security of Baghlan province. The forces on the ground were not supported; they did not receive any reinforcement."

The earlier defeat in Baghlan came a day after another northern base fell, at Chinese Camp, in Faryab province, where all 106 soldiers of an Afghan army company were either killed or captured by the insurgents.

Elsewhere, Taliban insurgents in central Afghanistan attacked the headquarters of Day Mirdad district in Maidan Wardak province on Sunday, killing 10 police officers, including a district chief, and setting off a gunbattle, according to Hakmat Durani, spokesman for the police chief of Maidan Wardak province. He added that dozens of insurgents were killed in retaliatory airstrikes by the air force and that reinforcements were being sent to the area.

In a separate attack late Saturday, militants targeted a checkpoint in the western Herat province, killing nine security force members and wounding six others, said Gelani Farhad, the provincial governor's spokesman. He blamed the attack on the Taliban, saying about 10 insurgents were killed and five wounded during the ensuing gunbattle.

Deaths of Afghan security forces have steadily risen in recent years, as the international coalition has mostly withdrawn and left most of the fighting to the Afghans. In the first 10 months of 2016, the number of Afghan police and soldiers who died totaled 6,785, an average of more than 20 a day, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, a U.S. government agency.

Since then, the agency said, the U.S. military has classified casualty information as secret at the request of the Afghan government. Many local analysts say fatalities have likely increased.

In Kabul, hundreds of gunmen took to the streets Sunday, blocking traffic and firing their weapons into the air, defying a ban on such celebrations in honor of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a leader who was killed by al-Qaida in 2001. Health officials said 13 people were hospitalized, struck by falling bullets.

Young people brandishing knives and machetes joined the unruly mourning processions, and the city's police made more than 100 arrests for public disorder offenses, seizing dozens of weapons and confiscating 30 cars used in the processions, according to Hashmat Stanikzai, a police spokesman.

The raucous and often violent processions have been an annual feature in Kabul for many years. Massoud is revered as the leader of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban, but he is regarded by other Afghan groups as a war criminal involved in the mass murder of opponents.

Massoud's family and old comrades distanced themselves from the day's events.

The scenes on Sunday shocked many people.

"I think everyone has had enough," Saad Mohseni, director of the MOBY Group and a man known as Afghanistan's media mogul, said in a tweet.

"They can commemorate at a stadium or somewhere out of the city. Kabul, a city of 5 million, cannot get hijacked because of a few hundred people," Mohseni wrote.

At Massoud Square, near the U.S. Embassy, security officials shot and apparently killed a man they said was a would-be suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest. Later, another suicide bomber, this time on a motorcycle, attacked a Massoud procession, killing at least two people, according to Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh. He said another 10 people were hospitalized, some in critical condition.

Information for this article was contributed by Najim Rahim and Rod Nordland of The New York Times; by Sayed Salahuddin of The Washington Post; and by staff members of The Associated Press. </s> BAGHLAN-E-MARKAZI, Afghanistan — In a chaotic day of violence throughout Afghanistan, scores of police officers, soldiers and civilians were killed by insurgents who, in four separate attacks, overran a major military base, killed a police chief, destroyed a police post and bombed a memorial event.

In the capital, Kabul, a commemoration for a man some Afghans regard as a hero turned violent as suicide bombers attacked celebrants, killing seven, and the police arrested more than 100 mourners for shooting in the air.

The deadliest single episode was the destruction by Taliban insurgents of an army base in Baghlan Province on Sunday, with at least 22 and as many as 40 security force members killed, local officials said.

The military installation was the second major base to fall to the insurgents in Baghlan Province in the past month, and the third in northern Afghanistan during the same period. </s> Wave of attacks by insurgents kills dozens of Afghan troops

BAGHLAN-E-MARKAZI, Afghanistan — In a chaotic day of violence across Afghanistan, scores of police officers, soldiers and civilians were killed by insurgents who, in four separate attacks, overran a major military base, killed a police chief, destroyed a police post and bombed a memorial event.

In the capital of Kabul, a commemoration for a man some Afghans regard as a hero turned violent as suicide bombers attacked celebrants, killing seven, and police arrested more than 100 mourners for shooting in the air.

The deadliest single incident was the destruction by Taliban insurgents of an army base in Baghlan province on Sunday, with at least 22 and as many as 40 security force members killed, local officials said.

The military installation was the second major base to fall to the insurgents in Baghlan province in the past month, and the third in northern Afghanistan during the same period.

Abdul Hai Nemati, the governor of Baghlan province, said the Afghan National Army base at Mangalha village, in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district, had been completely surrounded by insurgents.

Casualties for Afghan security forces have steadily risen in recent years, as the international coalition has mostly withdrawn and left most of the fighting to Afghans.

In Kabul, hundreds of gunmen took to the streets Sunday, blocking traffic and firing their weapons into the air, defying a ban on such celebrations in honor of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the northern leader who was killed by al Qaeda in 2001. Health officials said 13 people were hospitalized, struck by falling bullets.

Massoud is revered by his fellow Tajiks as the leader of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban, but he is regarded by other Afghan groups as a war criminal involved in mass murder of opponents.

In northern Baghlan province, a senior police official said insurgents had captured the Mangalha base by Sunday and had killed 40 soldiers and national and local police officers at that installation and at smaller outposts in the area. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman at the Ministry of Defense in Kabul, Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed, claimed that local officials’ description of the military facility as a base was inaccurate. Jawed said it was a “check post” that included representatives of the Afghan National Army and other units. Jawed also denied that the Taliban had captured it, saying it had been abandoned by defenders.

Mangalha village was formerly a Taliban stronghold and the insurgents had surrounded the military base last year, only to have the government reclaim control of the area.

Najim Rahim and Rod Nordland are New York Times writers. </s> Taliban militants have killed at least 26 Afghan soldiers and injured 30 more in an attack on an army base in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province.

The militants “attacked an army camp in the Karzali area of the Khakrez district of Kandahar last night,” General Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said on Wednesday.

Waziri said the soldiers “bravely resisted” and killed over 80 of the assailants.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, at least 50 Taliban militants were reportedly killed in Baghlan-e-Markazi district of northern Baghlan Province during an ongoing operation by Afghan troops on Tuesday night, Afghan media reported on Wednesday.

More than 20 villages were purged of Taliban militants during the operation, which was launched eight days ago in a bid to clear the area of militants.

Some 70 more Taliban members were also wounded in the operation.

“The Taliban are on the run from the district after suffering heavy casualties,” said Deputy Defense Minister General Shoaor Gul.

They had attacked the district eight days ago and gotten close to the center of the district.

According to authorities, the Afghan Air Force provided support for ground forces in the operation, and the militants suffered most of the casualties in the aerial operations.

Insecurity has gripped Afghanistan since 2001, when the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

In addition to the Taliban, the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group — which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq — has managed to gain a foothold in Afghanistan. </s> Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says 26 soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a Taliban attack on a military base in the southern province of Kandahar, although other government officials said the death toll was at least 30.

Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said 80 Taliban militants were also killed or wounded in the attack on the Karzyalay military base in Kandahar’s Khakrez district early on July 26.

The attack came amid a deadly surge of violence in Afghanistan, where government forces are struggling to fend off a resurgent Taliban that controls more territory than at any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

Government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that at least 30 soldiers were killed in the attack.

Sediq Esa, a spokesman for the 205th Corps in Kandahar, also said at least 30 Afghan military personnel were killed.

Esa said the militants seized the base and captured weapons and vehicles.

In a statement, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it had killed 74 soldiers and captured six others.

The Defense Ministry said government forces, backed by the air force, recaptured the base after several hours.

Kandahar has been the scene of constant militant attacks since 2001. The province is the spiritual heartland of the Taliban and located on the porous border with Pakistan, where the militant group’s leadership is believed to be based.

Taliban militants have ramped up their attacks on military bases across the country, challenging the thinly stretched security forces.

The U.S. Special Inspector-General for Reconstruction (SIGAR) has called the casualty rate among Afghan forces "shockingly high." Last year, more than 6,800 were killed and another 12,000 wounded, according to a SIGAR report this year.

In April, at least 140 soldiers were killed on a base outside the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif, one of the deadliest-ever Taliban attacks on a military installation.

In March, gunmen disguised as doctors stormed the Sardar Daud Khan hospital -- the country's largest military hospital -- in Kabul, killing 50 people.

The Taliban is threatening to overrun districts in Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Helmand, Farah, and Uruzgan provinces, according to officials.

The militants captured three districts in the past seek, although the ministry said Kohistan district in the northwestern province of Faryab was recaptured late on July 25.

On July 24, a Taliban suicide car bombing killed at least 26 people and wounded 41 others in the capital, Kabul, many of them employees of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.

The Taliban was driven from power in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

With reporting by BBC Persian and Reuters </s> Afghanistan's Defense Ministry says 26 soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a Taliban attack on a military base in the southern province of Kandahar.

Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said 80 Taliban militants were also killed or wounded in the attack on the Karzyalay military base in Kandahar’s Khakrez district early on July 26.

Government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that at least 30 people were killed in heavy clashes.

In a statement, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that it had killed 74 soldiers and captured six others.

The Defense Ministry said reinforcements had been sent to the scene.

The attack came amid a deadly surge of violence in Afghanistan, where the United Nations says more than 1,700 civilians have been killed this year.

On July 24, a Taliban suicide car bombing killed at least 26 people and wounded 41 others in the capital, Kabul.

With reporting by BBC Persian and Tolo News </s> Meanwhile, a Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan late on Tuesday night killed at least 30 soldiers and policemen, officials said.

The attack took place in northern Baghlan province, in the Baghlan-I Markazi district, said Mohammad Safdar Mohseni, the head of the provincial council. Dilawar Aymaq, a parliamentarian from Baghlan, said the attack targeted a military checkpoint and another manned by the so-called local police, militias recruited and paid by the Interior Ministry.

Abdul Hai Nemati, the governor of Baghlan, said at least nine security forces were still missing and four others were wounded in the attack. He said reinforcements have been dispatched to help recapture the checkpoints.

Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the assault.

Also Wednesday, life was gradually returning to normal in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive, days-long Taliban attack, though sporadic gunbattles was still underway in some neighbourhoods.

Afghans emerged from their homes and some shops reopened in Ghazni, where the Taliban launched a co-ordinated offensive last Friday, overwhelming the city's defences and capturing several neighbourhoods. Afghan forces repelled the initial assault and in recent days have struggled to flush the insurgents out of residential areas where they are holed up.

The United States and NATO have launched airstrikes and sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces as they fight for the city, just 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the Afghan capital with a population of some 270,000 people.

Arif Noori, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said Wednesday that "life is getting back to normal" after at least 35 civilians were killed in recent days. But he said wounded people were still arriving at the city's only hospital, which has been overwhelmed by the casualties.

Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in Ghazni, which has also killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked a police checkpoint in the southern Zabul province early Wednesday, killing four policemen, according to the provincial police chief, Mustafa Mayar, who said another three officers were wounded. He said seven attackers were killed and five were wounded during the battle, in which the Taliban used artillery and heavy weapons.

The Taliban have seized several districts across the country in recent years and carry out near-daily attacks targeting Afghan security forces. The assault on Ghazni was widely seen as a show of force ahead of possible peace talks with the U.S., which has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly 17 years.

Also on Wednesday, six children were killed when they tinkered with an unexploded rocket shell, causing it to blow up, said Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the governor of the eastern Laghman province. Zwak said that the victims were girls, aged 10-12, who were gathering firewood on Wednesday.

He blamed the Taliban, saying the rockets they fire at Afghan security forces often harm civilians.

Afghanistan is littered with unexploded ordnance left by decades of war. It is also plagued by roadside bombs planted by insurgents, which are usually intended for government officials or security forces, but often kill and maim civilians.

By Rahim Faiez And Amir Shah, The Associated Press </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed at least 30 soldiers and policemen, officials said, as life gradually returned to normal on Wednesday in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive, days-long insurgent attack, with sporadic gunbattles still underway in some neighborhoods.

In Kabul, a suicide bomber targeted a training class for university students in a private building in a Shiite neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, killing one person and wounding 12, officials said. The attack set off a gunbattle with security guards in the area and officials expressed fears that the casualty toll would rise.

In the northern Baghlan province, the Taliban set fire to two checkpoints after the attack late Tuesday in the Baghlan-I Markazi district, said Mohammad Safdar Mohseni, the head of the provincial council.

Dilawar Aymaq, a parliamentarian from Baghlan, confirmed the attack, which targeted a military checkpoint and another manned by the so-called local police, militias recruited and paid by the Interior Ministry.

Abdul Hai Nemati, the governor of Baghlan, said at least nine security forces are still missing and four others were wounded in the attack. He said reinforcements have been dispatched to help recapture the checkpoints.

Meanwhile, Afghans emerged from their homes and some shops reopened in Ghazni, where the Taliban launched a coordinated offensive last Friday, overwhelming the city's defenses and capturing several neighborhoods. Afghan forces repelled the initial assault and in recent days have struggled to flush the insurgents out of residential areas where they are holed up.

The U.S. and NATO have launched airstrikes and sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces as they fight for the city, which is just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Afghan capital and has a population of some 270,000 people.

Arif Noori, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said Wednesday that "life is getting back to normal" after at least 35 civilians were killed in recent days. But he said wounded people are still arriving at the city's only hospital, which has been overwhelmed by the casualties.

Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in Ghazni, which has killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked a police checkpoint in the southern Zabul province early Wednesday, killing four policemen, according to the provincial police chief, Mustafa Mayar, who said another three officers were wounded. He said seven attackers were killed and five were wounded during the battle, in which the Taliban used artillery and heavy weapons.

The Taliban have seized several districts across the country in recent years and carry out near-daily attacks targeting Afghan security forces. The assault on Ghazni was widely seen as a show of force ahead of possible peace talks with the United States, which has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly 17 years.

Also on Wednesday, six children were killed when they tinkered with an unexploded rocket shell, causing it to blow up, said Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the governor of the eastern Laghman province. Zwak said that the victims were girls, aged 10-12, who were gathering firewood on Wednesday.

He blamed insurgents, saying the rockets they fire at Afghan security forces often harm civilians.

Afghanistan is littered with unexploded ordnance left by decades of war. It is also plagued by roadside bombs planted by insurgents, which are usually intended for government officials or security forces, but often kill and maim civilians.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Kabul's western Dasht-i Barcha neighborhood, populated by Shiites.

Mohammad Asim, chief of the Kabul ambulance services, said casualties were still being brought to hospitals.

Abdul Hossain Hossainzada, a Shiite community leader in western Kabul, told The Associated Press the bomber apparently targeted the course, which was preparing students for university entrance exams. </s> Kabul: A Taliban suicide bomber attacked an army base in southern Helmand province Saturday killing four civilians and two soldiers, officials said.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said three civilians and two soldiers were wounded in the attack in Nad Ali district. He said the bomber was a Taliban fighter who targeted the base using a mini-van, said Zwak.

Major Abdul Qadeer Bahadorzai, the army corps commander's spokesman in the south, confirmed the attack. He said the death toll could change.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban insurgents announced the start of their annual spring offensive on Wednesday even as insurgents are already regularly launching attacks and battling security forces.

In another report, in eastern Nangarhar province five people were killed and 15 others wounded in separate attacks, said Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Khogyani said among five dead there are three women; militants fired mortar shells striking a home in Goshta district. Three others, including two females and a small child, were wounded in the attack late Friday night.

Meanwhile, 12 people were wounded in an explosion in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, said Khogyani. He said the victims were two traffic police and 10 civilians.

"Two wounded civilians are in critical condition," he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Nangarhar, but the Taliban and Islamic State group are both active in eastern Afghanistan, particularly Nangarhar province.

The Taliban issued a statement Wednesday saying the "Al-Khandaq" offensive would make use of "new and intricate tactics" aimed at "crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters."

The onset of spring has traditionally brought an increase in violence in Afghanistan, as melting snows allow fighters to more easily traverse the mountainous terrain.

But in recent years the Taliban and an Islamic State group affiliate have carried out near-daily attacks year-round. The Taliban have seized control of districts across the country and regularly target Kabul, the capital.

The U.S. formally ended its combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but thousands of American troops remain in the country in a counterterrorism and support role. The Trump administration has sent thousands of additional troops to try to change the course of America's longest war.
Dozens of people are killed in four separate attacks by the Taliban. An army base is destroyed in Baghlan Province.