10 soldiers killed in militant attack on Afghan army base

The assault in Kandahar province's Shah Wali Kot district late on Monday came just a day after 20 Afghan policemen were killed when Taliban fighters stormed their outposts in the neighbouring province of Zabul.

An Afghan soldier helps to secure an army base in Kandahar province on May 23, 2017, following an attack by militants in the district of Shah Wali Kot. Muhammad Sadiq / EPA

KANDAHAR // At least 10 Afghan soldiers were killed when militants attacked their army base in the southern province of Kandahar, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The assault in Shah Wali Kot district late on Monday came just a day after 20 Afghan policemen were killed when Taliban fighters stormed their outposts in the neighbouring province of Zabul.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the Kandahar attack, but it comes as Taliban insurgents intensify their annual spring offensive and as their strength is growing, more than 15 years after they were toppled from power in a US-led invasion.

“Last night the enemies of Afghanistan attacked Achakzai camp of army corps 205 in Shah Wali Kot district,” the defence ministry said, without identifying the attackers.

“Ten brave army soldiers were martyred and nine others wounded. The wounded soldiers were taken to hospital and they are in [a] stable condition.”

The attack marks another setback for the country’s Nato-backed forces. It comes just a month after the Taliban killed at least 135 soldiers in the northern province of Balkh in the deadliest insurgent attack on an Afghan military base since 2001.

During the Zabul attack early on Sunday, local officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations to seek attention because they were unable to contact senior authorities for help, highlighting the disarray in security ranks.

As of February, only about 60 per cent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts were reported to be under government control, with the authorities in Kabul struggling to counter the ascendant Taliban, according to the US watchdog agency Sigar.

The battlefield losses have raised concerns about the capacity of Afghan forces, who are beset by unprecedented casualties and blamed for corruption, desertion and “ghost soldiers” who exist on the payroll but whose salaries are usurped by fraudulent commanders.

Even the fortified Afghan capital is gripped by insecurity. Gunmen stormed an international guesthouse late on Saturday, killing a German aid worker and an Afghan guard, and kidnapping a Finnish woman.

There has so far been no claim of responsibility for that attack.

* Agence France-Presse