• The Taliban have killed more than 200 Afghan soldiers and police officers in four different areas in the last three days.
• More than 100 Afghan security forces have been killed in Ghazni, about 40 to 100 were killed in the Ajristan District, more than 50 were killed at a base in Faryab Province, and at least 16 were killed in the northern Baghlan Province.
• The US and Afghan governments have downplayed the Taliban assault on Ghazni, but local reports and witnesses claim the Taliban has taken much of the city, as the battle appears to still be raging on Monday.

The Taliban have killed more than 200 Afghan soldiers and police officers in four provincial districts in the last three days, with the heaviest losses occurring in the key city of Ghazni just south of Kabul, according to The New York Times.

More than 100 Afghan security forces have been killed in Ghazni, about 40 to 100 were killed in the Ajristan District, more than 50 were killed at a base in Faryab Province, and at least 16 were killed in the northern Baghlan Province, The New York Times reported.

The fighting in Ghazni appeared to still be raging on Monday after the Taliban launched a heavy assault on the city on Friday, killing more than 100 Afghan soldiers and police officers since then.

Afghan defense minister Tariq Shah Bahrami said Monday that 194 Taliban fighters and at least 20 civilians had also been killed, according to TOLO News, adding that 1,000 extra Afghan troops have been sent to quell the situation.

“With the deployment of additional troops to the city, we have prevented the collapse of Ghazni province,” Bahrami said, according to The Washington Post.

But there have been contradictory reports about how much of Ghazni the Taliban has taken.

“Ghazni City remains under Afghan government control,” Lt. Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, a spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, said Monday, adding that the situation was “relatively quiet” despite admitting the US has carried out more than a dozen airstrikes in the area since Saturday.

But Amanullah Kamrani, the deputy head of the Ghazni provincial council, told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty on Sunday that only “the police headquarters, governor’s office, and a few departments are under Afghan forces’ control. … The rest are under the Taliban fighters’ control.”

And Mohammad Arif Shahjahan, a lawmaker from Ghazni, told CNN on Monday that the Taliban fighters still controlled several governmental buildings and had even taken the police headquarters.

Videos posted on social media on Sunday even appear to show Taliban fighters strolling through the streets.

‘Every night fighting, every night the enemy are attacking us’

“We’re running out of hospital rooms; we are using corridors and available space everywhere,” Baz Mohammad Hemat, the director of the hospital in Ghazni, told The New York Times, adding that 113 dead bodies and 142 wounded had gone through the hospital.

“Bodies are lying around, they have decomposed, and no one is doing anything to evacuate them,” Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, a provincial council member, told The New York Times.

Meanwhile in Ajristan District, located about 90 miles west of Ghazni, the Taliban drove two vehicles packed with explosives into an Afghan commando base on Friday, killing nearly 100 government troops, The Times reported.

In the northern Faryab Province on the border of Turkmenistan, an Afghan Army base had been under attack for nearly three weeks in one provincial district when the Taliban launched a heavy assault on the base on Friday, killing more than 100 security forces, The New York Times reported.

“We don’t know what to do,” Captain Azam in Faryab told The Times, apparently before the Taliban launched the major assault. “Every night fighting, every night the enemy are attacking us from three sides with rockets.”

Azam was killed shortly after talking to The Times over the phone, The Times reported.

These Taliban assaults are the largest since the group assaulted the capital of Farah Province in May, an event that unfolded much like the one in Ghazni, with Kabul and Resolute Support downplaying the situation, and local reports showing and saying that the Taliban took much of the city. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan forces were still battling the Taliban in parts of Ghazni on Saturday, a day after the insurgents launched a multi-pronged assault on the eastern city.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said at least 25 security forces have been killed and wounded since the assault began early Friday, and that a local reporter was killed. It was unclear how many other civilians had been killed or wounded during the attack. Danish said more than 150 insurgents have been killed or wounded.

He said that although the fighting was still underway, “the situation is under control and there isn’t any serious threat.”

“Any threat which could cause the fall of the city has been eliminated,” he added.

The Taliban claim to have seized parts of the city and to have killed local officials. In a media statement, the group said it had seized dozens of armored vehicles as well as light and heavy weapons and ammunition. They said they “liberated” the central prison in Ghazni and freed all Taliban prisoners.

It was not possible to verify the claims because the Taliban destroyed a nearby communications tower, cutting off cellphone and landline access to the city. The insurgents also set fire to the local TV headquarters, making it difficult to broadcast images from Ghazni.

The city of about 140,000 people was in lockdown for the second day as residents stayed indoors and reported sporadic gunfire. The highway from Kabul to Afghanistan’s southern provinces, which runs through Ghazni, is still closed.

Ghazni is a gateway city linking the heavily Taliban-influenced south and east of Afghanistan to Kabul and is one of the last vestiges of government control in the province of the same name. The Taliban holds sway in most of the province where ethnic Pashtuns live, while the government’s influence is limited to Ghazni and small pockets dominated by ethnic Hazaras.

In northern Baghlan province, meanwhile, Taliban attacked police and army checkpoints, killing 13 police and soldiers, officials said.

Gen. Ekramuddin Serih, provincial police chief, said six policemen were killed and two police officers were wounded in the gun battle Friday night in Baghlani Kohna district. At least 10 insurgents were killed and four other were wounded, he said.

Seven soldiers were killed and two other troops were taken alive by the insurgents, according to a provincial official from Baghlan governor’s office who was not authorized to speak with media about casualties.

“Taliban were not able to overrun the checkpoints and were defeated by the (security) forces,” said Serih.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country since NATO and the United States formally ended their combat mission in 2014. U.S. and NATO forces remain in Afghanistan mainly in a supporting and training role in the 17-year-old war. </s> The Taliban have killed more than 200 Afghan soldiers and police officers in four provincial districts in the last three days, with the heaviest losses occurring in the key city of Ghazni just south of Kabul, according to The New York Times.

More than 100 Afghan security forces have been killed in Ghazni, about 40 to 100 were killed in the Ajristan District, more than 50 were killed at a base in Faryab Province, and at least 16 were killed in the northern Baghlan Province, The New York Times reported.

The fighting in Ghazni appeared to still be raging on Monday after the Taliban launched a heavy assault on the city on Friday, killing more than 100 Afghan soldiers and police officers since then.

Afghan defense minister Tariq Shah Bahrami said Monday that 194 Taliban fighters and at least 20 civilians had also been killed, according to TOLO News, adding that 1,000 extra Afghan troops have been sent to quell the situation.

In this Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, photo, an Injured man receives treatment at a hospital in Ghazni province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press

"With the deployment of additional troops to the city, we have prevented the collapse of Ghazni province," Bahrami said, according to The Washington Post.

But there have been contradictory reports about how much of Ghazni the Taliban has taken.

"Ghazni City remains under Afghan government control," Lt. Col. Martin L. O'Donnell, a spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, said Monday, adding that the situation was "relatively quiet" despite admitting the US has carried out more than a dozen airstrikes in the area since Saturday.

But Amanullah Kamrani, the deputy head of the Ghazni provincial council, told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty on Sunday that only "the police headquarters, governor's office, and a few departments are under Afghan forces' control. ... The rest are under the Taliban fighters' control."

And Mohammad Arif Shahjahan, a lawmaker from Ghazni, told CNN on Monday that the Taliban fighters still controlled several governmental buildings and had even taken the police headquarters.

Videos posted on social media on Sunday even appear to show Taliban fighters strolling through the streets.

'Every night fighting, every night the enemy are attacking us'

"We're running out of hospital rooms; we are using corridors and available space everywhere," Baz Mohammad Hemat, the director of the hospital in Ghazni, told The New York Times, adding that 113 dead bodies and 142 wounded had gone through the hospital.

"Bodies are lying around, they have decomposed, and no one is doing anything to evacuate them," Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, a provincial council member, told The New York Times.

Meanwhile in Ajristan District, located about 90 miles west of Ghazni, the Taliban drove two vehicles packed with explosives into an Afghan commando base on Friday, killing nearly 100 government troops, The Times reported.

In the northern Faryab Province on the border of Turkmenistan, an Afghan Army base had been under attack for nearly three weeks in one provincial district when the Taliban launched a heavy assault on the base on Friday, killing more than 100 security forces, The New York Times reported.

"We don't know what to do," Captain Azam in Faryab told The Times, apparently before the Taliban launched the major assault. "Every night fighting, every night the enemy are attacking us from three sides with rockets."

Azam was killed shortly after talking to The Times over the phone, The Times reported.

These Taliban assaults are the largest since the group assaulted the capital of Farah Province in May, an event that unfolded much like the one in Ghazni, with Kabul and Resolute Support downplaying the situation, and local reports showing and saying that the Taliban took much of the city. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed at least 30 soldiers and police, officials said Wednesday, as life gradually returned to normal in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive insurgent attack last week, with sporadic gunbattles still underway in some neighborhoods.

Mohammad Safdar Mohseni, the head of the provincial council in the northern Baghlan province, said the insurgents set fire to the checkpoints after the attack late Tuesday in the Baghlan-I Markazi district. 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 capital, Kabul, 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 police, 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.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed at least 30 soldiers and police, officials said Wednesday, as life gradually returned to normal in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive insurgent attack last week, with sporadic gunbattles still underway in some neighborhoods.

Mohammad Safdar Mohseni, the head of the provincial council in the northern Baghlan province, said the insurgents set fire to the checkpoints after the attack late Tuesday in the Baghlan-I Markazi district. 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 capital, Kabul, 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 police, 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. </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 — A blistering overnight attack by the Taliban on an Afghan police outpost in western Farah province killed 30 policemen, Afghan officials said Thursday.

It was the latest in a series of brutal and near-daily Taliban assaults on the military and police forces, government and other installations throughout the country. The resurgent Taliban, who in recent years have taken over nearly half of Afghanistan, did not comment on the attack in Farah.

The attacks have been so relentless that authorities no longer regularly provide casualty figures, but unofficial estimates say that about 45 Afghan policemen or soldiers are killed or wounded on a daily basis.

According to provincial council member Dadullah Qani, the overnight onslaught on the outpost in Farah’s district of Khaki Safed began late on Wednesday and continued for more than four hours.

In Kabul, lawmaker Samiullah Samim said the Taliban killed all 30 policemen — members of both the national and local police force — who were deployed at the outpost, including the district police commander, Abdul Jabhar.

Retaliatory air strikes killed 17 Taliban fighters but the insurgents still managed to get away with a large amount of weapons and ammunition, he said.

Meanwhile, fighting with the Taliban in two districts of central Ghazni province has displaced thousands of people in the past two weeks, most of them minority ethnic Hazaras, who are Shiites, said Mohammad Arif Rahmani, a lawmaker from Ghazni.

Also, about 100 Afghan policemen, local pro-government militiamen and soldiers have been killed in the bitter clashes there, Rahmani said. Currently, Afghan security forces are battling insurgents in 22 of the country’s 34 provinces, he added.

Afghanistan’s protracted war also has become increasingly deadly for civilians. A U.N. report issued earlier this year said more civilians died in the first six months of 2018 than in any year since 2009, when the U.N. mission first began monitoring civilian casualties.

“Every day in the first six months of 2018, an average of nine civilians, including two children, were killed in the conflict in Afghanistan,” said the independent Afghanistan Analysts Network in its own report.

Amir Shah is an Associated Press writer. </s> A Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed at least 30 soldiers and police, officials said Wednesday, as life gradually returned to normal in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive insurgent attack last week, with sporadic gunbattles still underway in some neighborhoods.

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

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 capital, Kabul, 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 police, 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. </s> KABUL: A Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed at least 30 soldiers and police, officials said Wednesday, as life gradually returned to normal in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive insurgent attack last week, with sporadic gunbattles still underway in some neighbourhoods.

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

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 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 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 kilometres (75 miles) from the capital, Kabul, 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 police, 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.
More than 100 Afghan soldiers and police, 13 civilians and hundreds of Taliban are killed during the ongoing offensive in Ghazni.