Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 9, 2019
Taliban fighters attacked Afghan Army checkpoints near the Pakistani border overnight, killing 20 troops, an Afghan official has said.
Eight more troops were wounded in the attack in Shorabak district, Mohammad Yousof Younosi, a council member in Kandahar Province, said on April 9.
An official from the provincial governor’s office, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, confirmed the attack and said there were casualties among the Afghan forces, but did not give precise figures.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack and said the group’s fighters also seized weapons and ammunition.
Also on April 9, U.S. forces in Afghanistan revised the death toll from a Taliban car-bomb attack a day earlier near the main U.S. base in the country, saying two U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed but not a contractor who was initially reported among the fatalities.
Based on reporting by AP and Tolo News