KABUL: A roadside bombing claimed by the Taliban killed 10 Afghan soldiers in the country’s west while insurgent attacks on security checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed four policemen, local officials said on Monday.

The soldiers were driving back to base after picking up their salaries in the country’s western Farah provin­ce. They were travelling in a Humvee when the explosion took place on Sunday afternoon in the Bala Buluk district, said Shah Mahmmod Nahimi, a provincial councilman.

“The blast was so intense that no one in the Humvee survived,” he added.

Elsewhere, the Taliban targeted several checkpoints in northern Sari Pul province on Sunday night, killing four members of the security forces and wounding 22, said Zabiullah Amani, the provincial governor’s spokesman.

The attacks took place on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Sari Pul and triggered gunbattles that lasted for hours, he said, adding that 15 Taliban fighters were also killed.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Farah attack in a statement on their website but did not make any announcements about the Sari Pul attack.

Meanwhile, a sticky bomb atta­ched to a minibus carrying government workers in Kabul detonated on Monday morning, wounding 10 people, said police spokesman Ferdus Faramarz. One of the wounded was in critical condition.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2019