12 Afghan police killed in insurgent attacks

KABUL - Twelve policemen were killed in Afghanistan’s volatile southern and eastern regions, officials said Tuesday.

Suspected Taliban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name Monday night, Kazim Allahyar, the deputy provincial governor, said.

“Five police were killed in the overnight attack,” Allahyar told DPA. Two constables were injured.

Two more policemen were killed and three injured in Khogyani district of the eastern province of Nangarhar Monday, when they were ambushed by Taliban insurgents, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The police fought back and killed five insurgents and injured six others, it said.

In the central province of Wardak, four policemen were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb, the statement said, adding that one more constable was killed and five others were injured in a similar bombing in the southern province of Kandahar, also Monday.

Taliban militants have stepped up their attacks on Afghan and international forces after the onset of spring in southern and eastern regions, the main hub of activity for the militants.

Casualties among NATO troops and Afghan forces have escalated in recent weeks, but fatalities have been worst among the poorly trained and equipped Afghan police personnel.

Unlike the Afghan army and foreign troops, police are stationed in the most remote areas of the country, where Taliban control is also the strongest.