At least eight soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack in Afganistan’s Balkh province, according to local officials on Wednesday.
The incident too place late at night in Darqad district after a group of Taliban attacked a joint forces checkpoint.
Fawad Saleh, the Balkh highway police commander, said that the attack took place at a highway police checkpoint in Alam Khail village of Balkh province on Tuesday night, Tolonews reported.
There were 14 soldiers at the checkpoint and six soldiers survived the attack, Saleh added.
The checkpoint is located on the Balkh-Jawzjan highway.
According to source, the Taliban conducted the attack with the help of an infiltrator.
The Taliban have not commented yet.
Last week, at least seven soldiers were killed and six security personnel injured after Taliban insurgents attacked a joint military camp in the country’s northern Balkh province.
Taliban militants, who ruled the country before being ousted in late 2001, renewed armed insurgency, killing government troops as well as civilians.
Last month, two US service members were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
In October 2017, one US service member was killed and six US soldiers were injured after the coalition’s helicopter crashed in Logar.
There are still 13,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, most of them involved in a mission to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces in their fight against the Taliban and the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan.
Peace talks between the United States and the Taliban stalled in early September after the US ended discussions following the death of an American soldier in a bombing in Kabul.