KANDAHAR // Twenty Afghan policemen were killed and more were feared dead after Taliban militants stormed security outposts in the southern province of Zabul, according to a provincial official, as the insurgents escalate their annual spring offensive.
Gul Islam Seyal, spokesman for the provincial governor in Zabul province, said on Sunday the battles began late Saturday when dozens of Taliban fighters launched coordinated attacks on security posts in the Shah Joy district. At least 10 other security forces, including national and local policemen, were wounded, he said.
Officials made calls to television stations raise the alarm as they were unable to contact senior authorities for help, highlighting the disarray in security ranks.
The attack is another blow to Nato-backed Afghan forces and comes a month after the Taliban killed 135 security forces in northern Balkh province, its deadliest insurgent attack yet on an Afghan military base.
“This morning, a group of Taliban fighters armed with heavy and light weapons launched coordinated attacks on several police checkpoints in Shah Joy district of Zabul province, killing 20 policemen,” provincial governor Bismillah Afghanmal said.
A district official said that at least 15 others were wounded in the fighting.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on their website. The raid underscored the insurgents’ growing strength more than 15 years since they were ousted from power by the US invasion of 2001.
Also on Sunday, authorities said a German woman and an Afghan security guard were killed and a Finnish woman kidnapped from a Kabul guesthouse overnight.
Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, said the killings took place at 11.30pm on Saturday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack or the kidnapping. He said Kabul police have begun an investigation.
Karoliina Romanoff, spokeswoman for Finnish foreign ministry, confirmed that a Finnish citizen was kidnapped but had no details. The foreign ministry said it demands “the immediate release of the kidnapped person”.
Scott Breslin, a worker at Sweden-based organisation Operation Mercy, told Swedish news agency TT that one of its workers was missing and that the organisation was holding a crisis meeting.
Operation Mercy is known to work with local Afghan communities in areas such as reducing infant mortality and women’s empowerment.
The attack underscores growing insecurity in Afghanistan, which is in the grip of an insurgency waged by the Taliban and other groups.
The kidnapping of foreigners has been on the rise, but the threat of abductions is even greater among Afghans.
Kabul is plagued by organised criminal gangs who stage abductions for ransom, often targeting foreigners and wealthy locals, and sometimes handing them over to insurgent groups.
* Agence France Presse and Associated Press
