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Kabul, Afghanistan – The insurgents have killed at least 29 Afghan security forces in separate attacks, and many have marked the 17th anniversary of the murder of a prominent anti-Taliban leader, officials said Sunday.
Hakmat Durani, spokesman for the police chief of Maidan Wardak province, said that the Taliban attacked a district headquarters west of Kabul on Saturday, killing 10 police officers, including a district chief. and causing a shootout. He added that dozens of insurgents had been killed in retaliatory air strikes by the air force and that reinforcements were being sent to the area.
In a separate attack on Saturday night, militants targeted a checkpoint in Herat province (west), killing nine security forces and wounding six others, said Gelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor. He blamed the attack on the Taliban, claiming that a dozen insurgents had been killed and five wounded during the ensuing shootings.
According to Defense Ministry spokesman Ghafor Ahmad Jawed, Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints in northern Baghlan province, killing five army soldiers. He added that a shooting is still ongoing and that reinforcements have been sent to the area.
Zabihullah Shuja, spokesman for the provincial police chief in Baghlan, said four police officers were killed in the attack.
No one has claimed responsibility for one or the other of the attacks.
The attacks took place on the eve of the anniversary of the murder of Ahmad Shah Masoud, who led the resistance against the Taliban in the late 1990s and was killed by suicide bombers two days before the attacks. September 11 in the United States. The United States responded to the attacks by invading Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, which was home to al-Qaeda members.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber targeted a convoy of people celebrating the anniversary, killing at least two people, according to Wahid Majroh, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health. He added that 10 other people had been hospitalized, some in critical condition.
A police official who was not allowed to speak with the media said at least seven people were killed and more than 25 injured in the suicide bombing that targeted mourners in Kabul.
Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said earlier Sunday another suicide bomber was shot dead by police in Kabul before he could blow up his explosives.
Afghan government officials commemorated Masoud's death Sunday by laying flowers on his monument in Kabul. Masoud's supporters, including young people who grew up long after his death, fired shots in the air in an expression of mourning.
At least 13 people were injured by the stray bullets, Majroh said.
