Taliban attacks kill 58 as Afghan army camp almost wiped out
The Taliban has killed at least 58 Afghan security forces in a wave of attacks across the country, including an assault that nearly wiped out an army camp in southern Kandahar province.
Spokesman Dawlat Wazir said the attack on the army camp, which involved two suicide car bombs and set off hours of fighting, killed at least 43 soldiers.
Nine other soldiers were wounded and six are missing, he said, adding that 10 attackers were killed.
The Taliban claimed the attack in a media statement.
A Taliban ambush in northern Balkh province killed six police, according to Shir Jan Durani, spokesman for the provincial police chief.
Another attack on police posts in western Farah province killed nine officers, said police chief Abdul Marouf Foulad. He said 22 insurgents were killed in the ensuing gun battle.
Afghan forces have struggled to combat a resurgent Taliban since US and Nato forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014, switching to a counter-terrorism and support role.
The Taliban also unleashed a wave of attacks across Afghanistan on Tuesday, targeting police compounds and government facilities with suicide bombers, killing at least 74 people, officials said.
Among those killed in one of the attacks was a provincial police chief. Scores were wounded, both police and civilians.
Afghanistan's deputy interior minister, Murad Ali Murad, called Tuesday's onslaught the "biggest terrorist attack this year".
