At least 20 members of the Afghan Narrational Army (ANA) were killed in a Taliban attack on their outpost in Khashrod district, Nimroz province, on Thursday evening, said Jalil Ahmad Watandost, the district governor of Khashrod.
The district governor said that six others were taken hostage by the Taliban.
The official did not provide further details on the attack. Photos on social media show some of the soldiers who were reportedly taken hostage by the Taliban.
The Defense Ministry has not commented on the incident so far.
This comes amidst a sharp increase in violence across the country despite ongoing peace negotiations in Doha.
On Thursday, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said that Taliban militants had expanded their attacks to 24 provinces over the past 24 hours, including Takhar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Kunduz, Baghlan, Laghman, Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, Zabul, Herat, Farah, Badghis, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul and Badakhshan provinces.
Latest Incidents of Violence in Afghanistan
The Defense Ministry stated that on Wednesday night in Takhar province an Afghan Air Force strike killed "12 Taliban including several of their commanders."
The airstrike was conducted in the “Hazara Qarluq" village of Baharak district, the statement said, adding that during a clash between "these Taliban" and the ANP on Monday, a "number of our police" were killed.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 others were wounded in a mortar attack in northern Faryab province on Thursday morning, local officials said.
Around 11:00am local time a mortar round landed in a market in Shareen Tagab district of the province, said Abdul Karim Yourish, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.
The Taliban on Wednesday destroyed an electricity pylon that brings power to Herat province, the office of Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) in Herat said in a statement.
The incident happened in Kalat-e-Ghazi village in Ghoryan district on Wednesday night. The Taliban destroyed a pylon that imports electricity from Iran to Herat, the report said.
Takhar’s deputy police chief Raz Mohammad Doorandish and nearly 50 security force members were killed in clashes with the Taliban in the province on Tuesday night, local officials said on Wednesday.
“47 people (security forces members) were killed, and three or four others were wounded,” said Amir Mohammad Khaksar, an MP from Takhar, adding that “the casualties will increase.”