Taliban fighters have attacked the police headquarters in the northern Afghan city of Pul-e-Khumri.

A suicide bomber started the assault, and more attackers then opened fire. Further clashes followed.

Hospital sources say at least 40 people have lost their lives or have been seriously injured.

The Taliban carries out frequent attacks on Afghan forces and now control more territory than any point since their toppling in 2001.

The militants have been holding peace talks with a US envoy in Qatar since October to end the long-running conflict.
• Will talks with the Taliban bring peace or chaos?

An Afghan interior ministry spokesman said two militants have been killed in the latest attack and the rest are under siege from national forces.

The Taliban claimed the attack in a statement. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban stormed a police headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 13 police and setting off a six-hour gunbattle, officials said.

The Interior Ministry said the attack in Puli Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, began at noon with a suicide car bomber striking the entrance to the compound and eight gunmen rushing in after the explosion. It said 13 police were killed and another 55 people, including 20 civilians, were wounded before the attackers were all killed.

A police official who was inside the compound during the attack said the insurgents all wore suicide vest and that three of them detonated their payloads, while the other five were shot and killed.

Kalil Narmgo, a doctor at the main hospital in Puli Khumri, said more than 50 wounded people, both military and civilians, had been brought in, including "several" in critical condition.

The Taliban claimed the attack, the latest in an unrelenting wave of assaults on security forces. The insurgents effectively control nearly half the country, and have maintained their tempo of attacks despite holding several rounds of peace talks with the United States in recent months.

In the capital, Kabul, a lawmaker was wounded and his wife was killed in a shooting attack late Saturday.

Police said Sunday it was unclear if the shooting inside Mohammad Afzal Shamil's home was due to a personal dispute or a targeted attack. Shamil is a member of the upper house of parliament representing northeastern Takhar province.

In the western Herat province, a roadside bomb killed three children and wounded another two on Saturday, according to Jelani Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor. No one claimed responsibility, but the Taliban often plant bombs on the main roads to target government officials or security forces. The bombs often kill civilians.

In a separate development, Pakistan says Prime Minister Imran Khan and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani spoke by phone to discuss efforts to end the conflict.

"The Prime Minister underlined that Pakistan will spare no effort to advance the common objectives of building peace in Afghanistan and having a fruitful bilateral relationship between the two brotherly countries," the Pakistani government statement said.

Afghanistan and the United States have long accused Pakistan of harboring militants, and many of the Taliban's top leaders are believed to be based there. Pakistan says it uses its limited influence over the insurgents to encourage peace efforts.

The statement said Khan "reiterated his invitation to President Ashraf Ghani to visit Pakistan for a comprehensive exchange of views on all issues of mutual interest."

The Afghan government said in a statement that Ghani accepted the invitation, but that a date has not yet been fixed. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption The attack began with a suicide bombing

At least 13 people have been killed and dozens wounded after Taliban fighters attacked a police headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Sunday.

A suicide bomber driving a Humvee loaded with explosives started the assault in the city of Pul-e-Khumri.

Clashes between gunmen and security services followed.

The attack came days after the Taliban rejected a ceasefire offered by the country's government and backed by the US.

Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said eight Taliban fighters were shot dead.

More than 50 people were wounded, 20 of them civilians. Children were among the dead, an Afghan health official said.

The Taliban, which wants strict Islamic rule in the country, said it was behind the bloodshed.

The group carries out frequent attacks on Afghan forces and now controls more territory than at any point since it was toppled from power in 2001.

Officials say armed Taliban fighters entered the police headquarters after an explosion at its gate before firing on Afghan security services inside.

The group is known to use armoured vehicles laden with explosives to target military and police facilities.

The militants have been holding peace talks with a US envoy in Qatar since October with the goal of ending the long-running war in Afghanistan.

Last week, the Taliban turned down a ceasefire agreement proposed by President Ashraf Ghani and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for peace in the country. </s> KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan forces battled for hours against Taliban insurgents who stormed a police headquarters in the northern city of Pul-e-Khumri, after a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden car, killing at least 13 people, officials said on Sunday.

A Taliban militant detonated his Humvee vehicle at the entrance of the police office before a group of eight attackers armed with machine guns rushed in the building, two Afghan officials said.

“Thirteen policemen were killed and 35 others injured,” said Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman at the Interior Ministry in Kabul, adding that 20 civilians were also wounded.

“The complex attack on Baghlan police headquarters has ended with the death of all nine attackers, including the suicide bomber,” he said.

The Taliban, which is seeking to restore strict Islamic rule and expel foreign forces from Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a busy area of the city with many other residential and commercial buildings.

Taliban fighters frequently capture U.S.-made armored Humvee vehicles from Afghan forces to load with explosives and use as car bombs to breach military fortifications.

Abdul Aleem Ghafari, deputy provincial health director in Pul-e-Khumri, said women and children were among those killed by the blast.

Sunday’s raid was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks that have killed and wounded hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan this year and put heavy pressure on the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks on security installations, even as they hold sixth rounds of direct talks with U.S. officials to end the war in Afghanistan.

This week, the group rejected appeals made last week by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, to declare a ceasefire in the 17-year conflict.

Afghan-born U.S. diplomat Khalilzad is leading the talks with the Taliban in Doha to pursue a deal that would bring the withdrawal of foreign forces in return for Taliban security guarantees.

“All sides agreeing to reduce violence is a necessary step toward achieving that outcome and the morally responsible choice to make. We stand ready,” Khalilzad wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Khalilzad’s comments came a day after Ghani said he was prepared to call an “immediate” and “permanent” ceasefire.

The Taliban said they will not lay down their arms ahead of the holy month of Ramadan and rejected to hold talks with the Afghan government which they consider an illegitimate “puppet” regime.

Direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban collapsed in 2015.

“A ceasefire will only get discussed once a deal about foreign force withdrawal gets finalized,” Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban’s Doha-based political spokesman, told Reuters.

About 45,000 Afghan security forces have been killed since Ghani took office in September 2014.

The hardline Islamists group now holds sway over more territory than at any point since its ousting by U.S.-led troops after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.

The Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan consists of 17,000 troops, about half of them from the United States. A smaller number of U.S. troops operate in Afghanistan under a counter-terrorism mission.

The United Nations’ top official in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, on Sunday, called on all parties to halt the fighting before Ramadan.

On Sunday, Ghani spoke with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to secure fresh backing to hold direct talks with the Taliban, hours after Afghanistan’s foreign ministry summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat over cross-border clashes between Pakistani and Afghan troops.

Relations between neighbors, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been plagued by mistrust and at times hostility since Pakistan’s independence in 1947.

For years, Afghanistan and the United States have accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban as a way for Pakistan to limit the influence of its old rival, India, in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s role in the ongoing peace negotiations is a delicate one, with Islamabad seeking to avoid showcasing any kind of broad influence over the Taliban.

Khan’s office in a statement said the two leaders exchanged views on matters relating to peace, security, and prosperity in Afghanistan and the region.

“The Prime Minister (Imran Khan) underlined that Pakistan will spare no effort to advance the common objectives of building peace in Afghanistan and having a fruitful bilateral relationship between the two brotherly countries,” it stated.

Ghani is expected to travel to Pakistan, but travel dates were not made public. </s> KABUL: As many as fifteen Afghan policemen were killed in two different attacks carried out by Taliban in northern Sar-e-Pul province of Afghanistan.

An Afghan official told International news outlet, that Taliban launched two attacks, killing 15 members of Afghan police force.

In one attack, on the outskirts of the provincial capital, heavy artillery fire by Afghan forces trying to repel the insurgents sent local residents fleeing for safety.

Provincial council chief Mohammad Noor Rahmani said that along with 15 policemen killed, 21 were wounded in the two attacks, which took place late on Monday.

He said fierce gunbattles raged for several hours in Sayyad district and outside Sar-e-Pul, the provincial capital.

The Taliban have been carrying out near-daily attacks targeting Afghan forces despite stepped-up efforts by the United States to find a negotiated end to the country’s 17-year war. </s> Dozens killed or wounded in attack on Afghanistan police headquarters

Dozens of people were killed or wounded when as many as five suicide bombers attacked a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, Reuters reported.

The attack, claimed by the Taliban, began around 6:30 a.m. (0200 GMT) when one bomber detonated a car packed with explosives at the gate of the police headquarters in Gardez city, capital of Paktia province, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

Four more attackers stormed the gate after the blast, with at least two quickly killed by police. The others held out against Afghan special forces that had responded to the attack, he said.

Danish put the toll at two police killed and five wounded.

However, doctors at the city hospital said they had received the bodies of at least five police, as well as at least 30 wounded people, including 20 civilians.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, with spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reporting more than 100 police were killed and wounded. The Islamist group often exaggerates casualty numbers in attacks against government targets and security forces.

Insurgent groups like the Taliban and Islamic State have launched a string of attacks across Afghanistan in recent weeks.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a mosque in Kabul on Thursday.

A massive truck bombing and later suicide attacks left hundreds dead and wounded at the end of May and beginning of June, raising political tensions for the Afghan government, which is struggling to combat rising violence and corruption.

Thousands of international troops remain in the country to train and assist Afghan security forces as well as carry out counterterrorism missions.

American defense officials say in coming weeks they will decide whether to send between 3,000 to 5,000 more troops as requested by military commanders. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Insurgents killed at least 29 Afghan security forces in separate attacks as many marked the 17th anniversary of the killing of a prominent anti-Taliban leader, officials said Sunday.

Hakmat Durani, spokesman for the police chief of Maidan Wardak province, said the Taliban attacked a district headquarters west of Kabul late Saturday, killing 10 police officers, including a district chief, and setting off a gunbattle. 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 forces and wounding six others, said Gelani Farhad, the provincial governor's spokesman. He blamed the attack on the Taliban, saying around 10 insurgents were killed and five wounded during the ensuing gunbattle.

Meanwhile in northern Baghlan province, Taliban fighters attacked security check points, killing 5 army soldiers, according to Ghafor Ahmad Jawed, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. He added that a gunbattle is still underway there and that reinforcements were being sent to the area.

Zabihullah Shuja, spokesman for the provincial police chief in Baghlan, said four police officers were killed in that attack.

No one claimed responsibility for either attack.

The attacks came on the eve of the anniversary of the killing of Ahmad Shah Masoud, who led the resistance against the Taliban in the late 1990s and was killed by suicide bombers two days before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. The U.S. responded to the attacks by invading Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaida operatives.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of mourners marking the anniversary, killing at least two people, according to Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh. He said another 10 people were hospitalized, some in critical condition.

A police official who was not authorized to speak with the media said that at least seven people were killed and more than 25 others were wounded in the suicide attack that targeted the mourners in Kabul.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said that earlier Sunday another suicide attacker was shot dead by police in Kabul before he could detonate his explosives.

Afghan government officials commemorated Masoud's death on Sunday by laying flowers at his monument in Kabul. Supporters of Masoud, including young people who came of age long after his death, fired guns in the air in an expression of mourning.

At least 13 people were wounded by the stray bullets, Majroh said. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents killed at least 29 Afghan security forces in separate attacks as many marked the 17th anniversary of the killing of a prominent anti-Taliban leader, officials said Sunday.

Hakmat Durani, spokesman for the police chief of Maidan Wardak province, said the Taliban attacked a district headquarters west of Kabul late Saturday, killing 10 police officers, including a district chief, and setting off a gunbattle. 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 forces and wounding six others, said Gelani Farhad, the provincial governor's spokesman. He blamed the attack on the Taliban, saying around 10 insurgents were killed and five wounded during the ensuing gunbattle.

Meanwhile in northern Baghlan province, Taliban fighters attacked security check points, killing 5 army soldiers, according to Ghafor Ahmad Jawed, spokesman for the Defense Ministry. He added that a gunbattle is still underway there and that reinforcements were being sent to the area.

Zabihullah Shuja, spokesman for the provincial police chief in Baghlan, said four police officers were killed in that attack.

No one claimed responsibility for either attack.

The attacks came on the eve of the anniversary of the killing of Ahmad Shah Masoud, who led the resistance against the Taliban in the late 1990s and was killed by suicide bombers two days before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. The U.S. responded to the attacks by invading Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaida operatives.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of mourners marking the anniversary, killing at least two people, according to Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh. He said another 10 people were hospitalized, some in critical condition.

A police official who was not authorized to speak with the media said that at least seven people were killed and more than 25 others were wounded in the suicide attack that targeted the mourners in Kabul.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said that earlier Sunday another suicide attacker was shot dead by police in Kabul before he could detonate his explosives.

Afghan government officials commemorated Masoud's death on Sunday by laying flowers at his monument in Kabul. Supporters of Masoud, including young people who came of age long after his death, fired guns in the air in an expression of mourning.

At least 13 people were wounded by the stray bullets, Majroh said. </s> The Latest: Afghan official says Taliban kill 9 in Kandahar

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Latest on developments (all times local):

An Afghan official says Taliban insurgents attacked police checkpoints in southern Kandahar province, killing nine police.

Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor in Kandahar, says Tuesday that seven other police were wounded late Monday in the attack in Arghistan district.

Zia Durrani, provincial police spokesmen, says 25 Taliban were killed and 15 others wounded in the battle.

Arghistan is one of the violate districts of Kandahar close to Pakistani border.

An Afghan official says an Islamic State suicide bomber has killed 20 people in northern Afghanistan, including a Taliban commander.

Abdul Qayuom Baqizoi, provincial chief police of northern Sar-i-Pul province, said the attack Tuesday took place as village elders met with Taliban officials in the area.

In northern Afghanistan, Taliban and the Islamic State group have been waging bitter battles in recent days. As many as 100 insurgents from both the Taliban and Islamic State have perished in recent battles, said Baqizoi.

Provincial council chief Mohammed Noor Rahman said the explosion occurred in a mosque as a funeral was taking place.

The area is remote and it was impossible to reconcile the differing accounts.

An Afghan official says at least 54 people, including security personnel and civilians, have been released from a Taliban prison in southern Helmand province.

Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor, said Tuesday the prisoners were freed after a commando unit raided the prison late Monday night in Musa Qala district.

Zwak said there were 32 civilians, 16 police, four soldiers and two military doctors who had been locked up by the insurgents.

He said security forces were still securing the area.

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the raid, but the insurgents are in control of the majority of the districts in Helmand, where they have increased their attacks against provincial officials and security forces.
Taliban insurgents kill 13 and injure 55 people in an attack on a police headquarters in Puli Khumri, Afghanistan, using guns and suicide vests. The Taliban's high command recently rejected a ceasefire offer from the Afghan government.