Asia

Home page

Asia

At least 50 killed in Taliban attacks on Afghan police - UPDATED

At least 50 killed in Taliban attacks on Afghan police - <span style="color: red;">UPDATED

17 October 2017 13:51 (UTC +04:00)

Two separate suicide and gun attacks on government forces in Afghanistan left nearly 50 dead and more than 200 wounded, officials said Tuesday, the latest devastating assault on beleaguered security forces, AFP reported.

The Taliban claimed the most deadly of the two assaults, a coordinated attack on police in the southeast Afghan city of Gardez that left hospital officials calling for blood donations and desperate scenes as relatives queued for news of their loved ones after the hours-long gun battle.

A separate ambush blamed on the Taliban in the neighbouring province of Ghazni on Tuesday killed 15 security officials with 12 wounded on a bloody day for government forces.

The assaults are a fresh blow as militants step up their offensives across Afghanistan, with security forces already beset by corruption, desertions and suffering shocking casualties over the past year.

"The hospital is overwhelmed and we call on people to donate blood," said Shir Mohammad Karimi, deputy health director in Gardez.

Doctors and nurses rushed to attend to the wounded women, children and police filling the corridors where some bodies also lay. Outside, university students formed a queue to donate blood, an AFP photographer said.

The attack, claimed by the Taliban in a tweet, began when two suicide car bombs blew up near the training centre, which is close to the Paktia police headquarters, making way for the gunmen to start their assault, the interior ministry and local police said.

***

12:29

At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 wounded when suicide bombers and gunmen launched an attack on a police training centre in south-eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, a hospital sources said, in the latest violence to rock the war-torn country, AFP reported.

The victims include “women, students and police”, Hedayatullah Hamidi, public health director in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province which borders Pakistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility in a tweet for the ongoing attack at the centre in Gardiz

“At first a suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives near the training centre, making way for a number of attackers to start their assault,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

A battle between the attackers, armed with guns and suicide vests, and security forces was under way inside the centre which is located near the Paktia police headquarters, according to the interior ministry statement.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

A local official said two car bombs blew up near the compound that also houses the provincial headquarters of the national police, border police and Afghan National Army.

“A group of gunmen have entered the compound and fighting is ongoing,” Allah Mir Bahram, a member of the Paktia provincial council.