18 Afghan Police Killed in Ambush in Remote Northeast
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Militants in northeast Afghanistan killed 18 police in an ambush, the interior ministry said Friday, as the nation's security forces struggle to thwart the Taliban with decreasing assistance from international troops.
The police convoy was caught in a firefight in the remote province of Badakhshan on Wednesday when officers were returning from an anti-insurgent operation.
"The acting interior minister is deeply saddened about the killing of 18 policemen and wounding of 13 others in a terrorist attack in Warduj district of Badakhshan," a statement from the interior ministry said, AFP reported.
"A group of Afghan police forces on their return from a clean-up operation on the outskirts of Warduj district faced an enemy ambush and it resulted in the killing of brave Afghan policemen."
The mountainous northeast of Afghanistan is far from the Taliban heartlands of the south and is relatively peaceful.
But Taliban militants killed 17 captured Afghan soldiers in the same district in March. The men were taken hostage while guarding a convoy.
Afghanistan's 350,000-strong security forces are suffering a steep rise in casualties as the NATO combat mission winds down and Afghan authorities try to impose stability ahead of the presidential election due in April.
