Taliban Attacks Police Checkpoints in Farah, Killing Five

At least five policemen killed after Taliban militants attacked their checkpoints in western Farah province early on Tuesday, a local official said.

“Taliban attacked over two checkpoints in Shamal Gah village of the City this morning,” Khair Mohammad Noorzai, a member of Farah provincial council said. “As a result, five policemen martyred, one wounded and four others are still missing.”

Reports suggest that Taliban have taken away all equipments of the checkpoints after the raid.

Meanwhile, provincial governor spokesman Naser Mehri denied to make a comment about the report. But he said that Afghan security forces have killed 15 Taliban insurgents and wounded 10 others in an operation in Bala Buluk district of the province.

Residents of Farah urge the central government to deploy fresh troops to their province.

“Our demand from President Ashraf Ghani is to immediately deploy one thousand additional forces to save the people of Farah from being massacred,” Abdul Sattar Hussaini, a local elder said. “The current forces in Farah is incapable to prevent the ongoing crisis.”

Taliban have stepped up attacks against Afghan forces in the province in recent months.

On Monday, security forces recaptured Anar Dara district of the province, just hours after Taliban militants overran police and administrative offices, killing 12 security personnel including the district police chief.

Officials claim that Afghan security forces have killed 58 Taliban fighters including their shadow governor for Bala Buluk district of the province.

Over the weekend, Taliban killed 24 Afghan forces including 10 army commandos in Bala Buluk district.