At least 18 service members of the Afghan National Amy (ANA) were killed, 16 wounded and four others were taken away by the Taliban after a group of fighters of the group attacked an army base in Shah Wali Kot district in southern Kandahar province on Thursday night, a security source said on Friday.

After a group of fighters of the group attacked an army base in Zangitan village in Shah Wali Kot district in southern Kandahar province yesterday, a security source said today.

This is the second attack of the Taliban on army bases in Kandahar in the past week. On Monday May 22, 11 Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and nine others were wounded in a Taliban attack on an army base in Achakzai village in Shah Wali Kot district.

Meanwhile, almost 20 Taliban insurgents were killed in the attack, said 205 Atal military Corps in Kandahar. </s> KABUL – At least 18 Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack on a military base in Kandahar province of Afghanistan, according to media reports on Friday.Five others were injured in the assault on the facility in Shah Wali Kot district, defence ministry spokesman Dawlat Wazir said.The attack comes four days after 10 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants stormed another base in the same area.The attacks in Kandahar follow raids on police outposts in central the central Zabul province on Sunday, which left at least 20 officers dead.The Taliban is believed to control up to a third of Afghanistan, after gaining ground in the past two years. </s> Kabul: At least 18 Afghan soldiers were killed in an attack by the Taliban on a military base in Kandahar province, a local media report said on Friday.

Sixteen persons were wounded and four others were taken away by Taliban militants after the attack on the base in Shah Wali Kot district on Thursday night, Tolo News reported.

According to the report, the Taliban insurgents also suffered casualties.

This is the second attack in Shah Wali Kot this week. Eleven Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and nine others wounded in another Taliban attack on an army base in Achakzai village of the district on Monday.

Despite the attacks, Defence Ministry spokesperson Dawlat Waziri said "the security situation of the district is good and it is under control of our security forces".

Also, last week, 20 policemen were killed and a dozen more wounded in Taliban attacks on several checkposts in the neighbouring Zabul province.

The attacks were part of the "spring offensive" launched by the Taliban in late April. </s> The attack in Shah Wali Kot district came just three days after 10 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants stormed another base in the same area. Photo: Reuters

Kandahar: At least 15 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters attacked their army base in the southern province of Kandahar, the defence ministry said on Friday, in the second such assault this week.

The attack in Shah Wali Kot district on late Thursday came just three days after 10 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants stormed another base in the same area.

“The Taliban launched a coordinated assault on an army base on last night (Thursday) in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province,” ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP. “Fifteen Afghan army soldiers were martyred and five others wounded.”

A provincial official who spoke on the condition of anonymity gave a higher death toll of 20.

The attack comes as Taliban insurgents intensify their annual spring offensive and their strength is growing, more than 15 years after they were toppled from power in a US-led invasion.

It highlights a growing insurgent offensive in Kandahar, where security has relatively improved in recent years under the leadership of police chief and regional strongman General Abdul Raziq.

Raziq had lashed out at the central government in Kabul on Thursday, accusing them of a plot to destabalise his province.

“Some political figures within the National Unity Government are trying to destabilise Kandahar like (neighbouring) Helmand and Uruzgan provinces,” Raziq told a public gathering. “Whenever there is an attack in Kandahar, the central government does not help.”

The attack marks another setback for NATO-backed Afghan forces. It comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 soldiers in the northern province of Balkh in the deadliest insurgent attack on an Afghan military base since 2001.

And in another deadly Taliban attack on security outposts in southern Zabul province on Sunday, local officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations to seek attention because they were unable to contact senior authorities for help.

The battlefield losses have raised concerns about the capacity of Afghan forces, beset by unprecedented casualties and blamed for corruption, desertion and “ghost soldiers” who exist on the payroll but whose salaries are usurped by fraudulent commanders.

The Taliban launched their annual “spring offensive” in late April, heralding a surge in fighting as the US tries to craft a new Afghan strategy.

US defence secretary Jim Mattis last month warned of “another tough year” for security forces in Afghanistan.The US and several NATO allies are considering sending thousands more troops to break the stalemate against the resurgent militants. </s> The army base in Shah Wali Kot is the Taliban's third major military target this week in Kandahar province.

A Taliban attack on a military base in Kandahar province has left at least 15 Afghan soldiers dead, according to government officials.

Dawlat Waziri, Afghanistan's defence ministry spokesman, told AFP news agency on Friday that the assault happened late on Thursday.

"The Taliban launched a coordinated assault on an army base last night in Shah Wali Kot," said Waziri, adding that the fighting continued until Friday morning.

"Fifteen Afghan army soldiers were martyred and five others wounded ... but the base remains under the control of our forces."

A provincial official who spoke on the condition of anonymity gave a higher death toll of 20, adding that some soldiers were missing after the attack and the Taliban had seized four military Humvees.

The attack was the third major Taliban assault this week on the military in Kandahar.

At least 30 soldiers were killed in a similar attack in Shah Wali Kot late on Monday. Two days later 13 soldiers died in another raid in Kandahar's Maiwand district, a provincial official told AFP.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks as their annual spring offensive intensifies and the violence expands more than 15 years after they were officially toppled from power in a US-led invasion.

Kandahar is a centre of Taliban activity, although there has been a relative improvement in security in recent years under the iron grip of police chief and regional strongman General Abdul Raziq.

Raziq, arguably the most powerful security commander in southern Afghanistan, has criticised the central government in Kabul over the growing insecurity in Kandahar, accusing them of a plot to destabilise his province.

"Some political figures within the National Unity Government are trying to destabilise Kandahar like [neighbouring] Helmand and Uruzgan provinces," Raziq told a public gathering on Thursday.

"Whenever there is an attack in Kandahar, the central government does not help."

His remarks did not immediately provoke a response from Kabul. </s> Taliban militants have killed at least 15 Afghan soldiers during an attack on an army base in Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar.

Dawlat Waziri, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said on Friday that the militants “launched a coordinated assault on an army base last night (Thursday) in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province.”

“Fifteen Afghan army soldiers were martyred and five others wounded,” he added.

However, a provincial official, who asked not to be named, put the death toll at 20.

The assault is the second of its kind in less than a week.

At least 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack on the Achakzai camp of army corps 205 in the same district on May 22.

The number of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan climbs every spring, when the militants increasingly target government officials and US-led foreign forces in the country. Many ordinary people often fall victim to such attacks as well.

Over 1,000 members of Afghan security forces as well as over 700 civilians have been killed so far this year, according to Afghan authorities and figures cited by the US-based Congressional watchdog Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

The US military is considering whether to deploy 3,000 to 5,000 more military advisers to help train and assist Afghan security forces battling a 16-year militancy by the Taliban.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001. The invasion did remove the Taliban from power, but has failed to stop its terror campaign to this day.
• Gen. Nicholson Assures Kunduz Will Not Fall To Militants </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> Kabul

 At least 15 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters attacked their army base in the southern province of Kandahar, the defence ministry said Friday, in the second such assault this week.

 The attack in Shah Wali Kot district late Thursday came just three days after 10 Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants stormed another base in the same area.

 “The Taliban launched a coordinated assault on an army base Thursday night in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province,” ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP.

 “Fifteen Afghan army soldiers were martyred and five others wounded.” A provincial official who spoke on the condition of anonymity gave a higher death toll of 20.

 The attack comes as Taliban insurgents intensify their annual spring offensive and their strength is growing, more than 15 years after they were toppled from power in a US-led invasion. It highlights a growing insurgent offensive in Kandahar, where security has relatively improved in recent years under the leadership of police chief and regional strongman General Abdul Raziq. Raziq had lashed out at the central government in Kabul on Thursday, accusing them of a plot to destabilise his province.

 “Some political figures within the National Unity Government are trying to destabilise Kandahar like (neighbouring) Helmand and Uruzgan provinces,” Raziq told a public gathering. “Whenever there is an attack in Kandahar, the central government does not help.” The attack marks another setback for NATO-backed Afghan forces. It comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 soldiers in the northern province of Balkh in the deadliest insurgent attack on an Afghan military base since 2001.

 And in another deadly Taliban attack on security outposts in southern Zabul province on Sunday, local officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations to seek attention because they were unable to contact senior authorities for help.

 The battlefield losses have raised concerns about the capacity of Afghan forces, beset by unprecedented casualties and blamed for corruption, desertion and “ghost soldiers” who exist on the payroll but whose salaries are usurped by fraudulent commanders. — AFP
Taliban militants attack an Afghan National Army base in Shah Wali Kot District, Kandahar Province, killing at least 15 soldiers.