At least 16 police were killed and two were wounded in clashes with the Taliban in northern Kunduz province on Monday night, local officials confirmed Tuesday.
The clashes took place in the Ali Abad district after the Taliban attacked security checkpoints, the provincial police chief Abdul Rashid Bashir said.
“The Taliban have also sustained casualties in the clashes, along with the local police,” Bashir said.
A soldier who survived the attack said: “Nine of my colleagues were martyred and another was injured. I fought alone for an hour with the Taliban and the reinforcements arrived for us around 3:30 am.”
Mahmoud, a commander of a checkpoint, is also among the dead, his relatives confirmed.
The provincial police said that the clashes ended after reinforcements deployed to the area and the Taliban fled.
The Taliban claimed the attack on the security checkpoints, and said that several security forces were killed in clashes.