The Taliban have claimed to have killed twelve Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers in a bombing in the Dasht-e-Archi district of the northern province of Kunduz, Press TV reported.
"The Taliban detonated a bomb targeting a group of ANA soldiers on the outskirts of the Dasht-e-Archi district, killing 12 soldiers," Zabihullah Mujahid, a senior spokesman for the Taliban, told Afghan Islamic Press. No Afghan government official could be reached to confirm the alleged death toll.
Meanwhile, two members of the Afghan security forces lost their lives and three others sustained injuries early on Thursday after their vehicle ran over a landmine in the Gulran district of the northwestern province of Herat.
Last week, three Afghan policemen were killed when a group of unidentified armed assailants staged an ambush on an army patrol in the Shirin Tagab district of the northern province of Faryab. Five more were injured in the incident. The gunmen escaped the scene in a vehicle and their whereabouts are unknown.
The increasingly frequent Taliban attacks in both urban and rural parts of the country have taken a heavy toll on the ill-equipped and undertrained Afghan police officers.