At least 14 security force members were killed after Taliban fighters have carried out an attack on Afghan border on Friday, the latest in a series of attacks since the end of a brief ceasefire, according to the insurgents and officials.
Taking to Twitter, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, “Last night the mujahideen carried out attacks against the newly established posts of the enemy in Dande Patan district of Paktia province”.
“The enemy has been recently trying to expand its rule in mujahideen territories”, he further posted.
Two Taliban fighters were also killed, the spokesman said.
Afghan officials confirmed the attack in the early hours of Friday had killed 14 Afghan security force members.
Dande Patan district governor Eid Mohammad Ahmadzai told AFP that 15 security force members and 20 Taliban fighters were killed in the fighting.
On Thursday, seven policemen were killed and three others injured in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan’s Farah province, the first major incident after a three-day ceasefire ended.
A three-day ceasefire offered by the militants officially ended late on Tuesday but an overall lull in the country’s grinding violence has largely held, officials and experts have said.
Earlier this month, at least dozens were killed and many injured in an explosion that took place near a hospital in Kabul.
24 people were dead and dozens more wounded in a suicide blast claimed by ISIL (ISIS) at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan, according to the local government, in one of two attacks to hit the country on the same day.
On March 25, an unidentified gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a Sikh gurdwara in Kabul that killed at least 27 worshippers and eight others injured.