AFGHANISTAN-POLICE ATTACK Taliban attack two Afghan police stations in Kandahar

Record ID: 144827

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN-POLICE ATTACK Taliban attack two Afghan police stations in Kandahar
  • Date: 6th August 2015
  • Summary: POLICEMAN ON GUARD DAMAGED CAR OUTSIDE POLICE STATION SECURITY PERSONNEL WALKING OUTSIDE POLICE STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) COMMANDER OF POLICE STATION NUMBER FOUR, RAHMATULLAH ATRAFI, SAYING: "Today, five suicide bombers launched attacks on two separate police stations, number four and number two. Fortunately we were able to kill all of them, but two police soldiers wer
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Afghanistan
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAB3UQHBDSJY58DAOHQKCI28NQ8
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    Armed Taliban suicide bombers launched attacks on two Afghan police stations in the southern city of Kandahar on Thursday (August 6), killing three Afghan security forces and wounding two others.
    An official said that all five attackers were killed by security forces before they managed to enter the police stations.
    "Today, five suicide bombers launched attacks on two separate police stations, number four and number two. Fortunately we were able to kill all of them, but two police soldiers were martyred in the process and two others were wounded. An officer from the national security department was also martyred," said Rahmatullah Atrafi, commander of police station number four in Kandahar city.
    In a separate incident on Thursday, an Afghan military helicopter crashed, killing all 17 on board, officials said.
    Taliban insurgents claimed their fighters shot down the helicopter in the southern province of Zabul.
    But a government official blamed a technical failure for the crash, just hours after another Taliban suicide bomb attack on an Afghan special forces compound killed six people.
    Twelve soldiers and five crew were killed in the crash while the helicopter was ferrying military supplies and troops.
    The Ministry of Defence confirmed the crash.
    A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said on his official Twitter account that the insurgents had shot down the helicopter.
    However, there was no enemy fire before the crash, Seyal said. The Taliban often exaggerate battlefield gains.
    Afghanistan's military has about 150 aircraft and 390 pilots, just a fraction of the air power of NATO, which flew air support, evacuation and supply sorties before last year's drawdown of troops.
    Earlier on Thursday, officials said a truck bomb targeting an Afghan special forces base in the eastern Logar province killed three soldiers and three civilians and wounded dozens.
    In an email to journalists, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the Logar attack.
    Afghan troops have been battling a growing Taliban insurgency that has killed and wounded thousands of people since the beginning of 2015, with the United Nations putting civilian casualties at almost 5,000 in the first half of the year.
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