At least 26 Afghan soldiers were killed after the Taliban attacked a military base in Kandahar on Tuesday, reported AFP quoting the country’s Defence Ministry. The Afghan Air Force said it carried out strikes to support the army during the attack on the base, which is in Karzali area of Khakrez district, near the Helmand border.

At least 13 soldiers were injured in the Taliban attack, Defence Ministry Spokesperson General Dawlat Waziri said. He claimed that the Afghan security forces had killed more than 80 insurgents in response.

“We conducted multiple airstrikes, killing dozens of them,” said the provincial air force commander. “Our helicopters transported wounded soldiers to hospitals in Kandahar.” An unnamed senior army official said that at least 12 soldiers were missing after the attack. </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> 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> 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> 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 — An Afghan official says 26 soldiers have been killed in a blistering Taliban assault on an Afghan National Security base in southern Kandahar province.

Mohammad Radmanish, defence ministry's deputy spokesman, said Wednesday the Taliban assault overnight in Khakrez district left another 13 soldiers wounded.

Kandahar is considered the spiritual heartland of the Taliban.

In previous reports the U.S. Special Inspector General for Reconstruction (SIGAR) has called the casualty rate among Afghanistan's National Security Forces "shockingly high." Last year more than 6,800 were killed and another 12,000 wounded according to a SIGAR report earlier this year. </s> Kandahar, Afghanistan, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2019 ) :Taliban bombers targeting a district centre in southern Afghanistan have killed at least 19 people, including eight election workers, officials said on Sunday.

The attack comes as a new round of talks between the United States and the Taliban to end the 18-year long war in Afghanistan entered a second day in Qatar.

The militants rammed four armoured vehicles packed with explosives into a government compound in Maruf district late Saturday, a police spokesman in southern Kandahar province said.

"Unfortunately 11 policemen were martyred and 27 more injured," Qasim Afghan told AFP.

Eight election workers, who were stationed at the centre to register voters ahead of the presidential polls in September, were also killed in the attack, said Zabiullah Sadaat, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Afghanistan's twice-delayed presidential election is now slated for September 28.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with a spokesman tweeting that their fighters had captured the district centre, killing 57 security forces.

Afghanistan's interior ministry, however, rejected the claim, saying in a statement that the militants had been beaten back and 25 insurgents killed.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the "barbaric and unforgivable" attacks, which are the latest in a relentless wave of assaults by the Taliban, who now hold sway over about half of the country and regularly target government forces.

The insurgents killed at least 25 members of a pro-government militia in an attack in northern Baghlan province on Saturday.

The violence comes amid stepped-up efforts by the United States to find a negotiated end to America's longest war, with Washington and the Taliban opening a fresh round of negotiations in Doha on Saturday. </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> Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan's restive southern province of Kandahar Wednesday when a Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into a convoy of foreign forces.

"Two U.S. service members were killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when their convoy came under attack," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.

"U.S. Forces Afghanistan will provide additional information as it becomes available," he added.

The assault is the latest blow to NATO forces, who ended their more than a decade-long combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014.

Since then Afghan troops and police, beset by soaring casualties, have struggled to beat back the resurgent Taliban, while facing the growing menace of the Islamic State group.

Afghan officials said the attack, which was quickly claimed by the Taliban in a text message to AFP, happened around noon (0730 GMT) in the Daman area of Kandahar.

NATO confirmed in a statement that a convoy was attacked and did "cause casualties" but did not immediately give further details.

At least one witness reported seeing three bodies pulled from one of the vehicles.

Mohammad Azim, a shopkeeper, told AFP: "I saw a foreign forces vehicle on fire after the attack. A while later helicopters landed in the area, they took three bodies out of the vehicle and flew away. There were three armored vehicles in the convoy."

The Taliban have a heavy presence in poppy-growing Kandahar province and have launched repeated attacks there.

They have been ramping up their campaign against beleaguered government forces, underscoring rising insecurity in the war-torn country during the summer fighting season, when the warmer weather tends to spur an increase in militant attacks.

Early last month a U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded in an attack in Kandahar's neighboring Helmand province while conducting operations against the Taliban.

Private First Class Hansen Kirkpatrick, 19, of Wasilla, Alaska died following the "indirect fire" assault, which means he was hit by a mortar or some other incoming round.

The attacks come as United States President Donald Trump weighs sending more American troops to Afghanistan nearly 16 years after the U.S. invasion to topple the Taliban regime.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan now number about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the U.S. presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers.

American military commanders in Afghanistan have requested thousands of extra boots on the ground and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is believed to be close to presenting a new U.S. military strategy for Afghanistan to Trump.

Tuesday's attack came a day after suicide bombers throwing grenades killed more than 30 Shiite worshipers at a mosque in Afghanistan's main western city of Herat.

No one claimed responsibility for the assault but IS has regularly attacked Shiites over the past year as it tries to make inroads in Afghanistan following setbacks in the Middle East, leaving Afghan forces and its international allies facing a twin Taliban and IS insurgency.
32 Afghan border security troops are killed by a Taliban attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan.