The Taliban attacked the Afghan security outposts in eastern Nangarhar province on Wednesday night, killing at least 20 Afghan forces, a local official confirmed.

Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor told Ariana News, the clashes between the Afghan forces and the insurgents started after a large number of Taliban fighters stormed several security outposts in Sherzad, Khogyani, and Hisarak districts of the province.

At least 20 Afghan forces – including 12 policemen, three local policemen, and five members of public uprising forces – were killed and 30 others wounded in the battle, Khogyani said.

Khogyani, however, stated that the Taliban have also sustained heavy casualties.

He added that in the counter-attacks at least 30 Taliban insurgents were also killed and several more wounded.

The Taliban has not commented yet in this regard.

It comes as the Afghan government and the Taliban delegations are in Doha to negotiate a political resolution for ending the long-term war in the country.

The two sides held their first formal session on Tuesday evening and reached a consensus over the code of conduct and on moving forward to complete the working principals pertaining to talks going forward.

Meanwhile, the Afghan peace negotiating team leader, Masoom Stanekzai at his opening speech called on the Taliban to put an end to violence.

“The biggest and most important priority of our people is to stop the bloodshed in the country,” Stanekzai said.