Sources say that 23 people, including security force members and members of the public uprising forces, were killed and five more were wounded in Taliban attacks in Badakhshan and Baghlan provinces in northern Afghanistan on Thursday night.

Two sources from Badakhshan police said that eight people, including security force members, were killed and three more were wounded in Taliban attacks on different outposts in the city of Faizabad.

But other sources from the province said that the Taliban attacked three to four outposts in Yaftal-e-Bala area on the outskirts of Faizabad city on Thursday night in which 20 security force members and members of the public uprising forces, including their commander, were killed and some of them were taken hostage by the Taliban.

The sources said that some military vehicles and weapons also fell to the Taliban.

Some Badakhshan residents who spoke to TOLOnews said the situation in Faizabad city is alarming and that it is faced with the threat of falling to the militants if the Taliban attacks are not pushed back.

Meanwhile, in Baghlan, three people, including Mohiuddin Paikan Haidari, the head of the education department of Pul-e-Charkhi Prison, were killed in an ambush by the Taliban in Khost district in the province, last night, sources said.

Two others who were killed in the attack were commanders of public uprising forces who were heading to a frontline to fight the Taliban.

The sources said that two members of the public uprising forces were wounded in the clash. According to the sources, four Taliban fighters were also killed in the attack.

This comes as thousands of people have taken up arms in various provinces to fight against the Taliban amidst a surge in attacks by the group.