At least 23 Afghan National Police (ANP) officers were killed and 15 others were wounded on Monday night in a serious of attacks carried out by the Taliban on several police check posts in southern Kandahar province, local officials said on Tuesday. 
 
Kandahar police chief general Abdul Raziq on Tuesday said that the insurgents launched group attacks on at least sixteen police check posts in areas between Lashkargah intersection and Kandahar and onwards  to Maiwand and Zherai districts.
 
Security officials in Kandahar have said that the Taliban sustained a heavy casualty toll in the battles with the security forces.
 
Over 45 Taliban militants were reportedly killed and 25 others were wounded in the battle, the officials said.   
 
According to Kandahar police the attack started on Monday night at about 8:00 pm and lasted for one hour. 
 
Kandahar police said the attack was one of the biggest attacks by the Taliban in the last few years
 
“We have 22 officers martyred and 15 others wounded, the enemy were planning to close down the main highway and were plotting to infiltrate into Maiwand, but they failed to achieve their goals, there are more than 45 fatalities among the enemy and dozens of others were wounded,” said Raziq. 
 
In addition, a number of security force personnel battling the Taliban on the frontlines said that the Taliban are infiltrating Kandahar from Helmand province.
“We had information that the enemy was planning an attack from the intersection area towards the highway and carried out its plan,” said an ANP soldier Toar Jan.
 
“We faced an ambush by the enemy,” said another officer Baseer.
 
Maiwand district is located in the western part of Kandahar and has a common border with Helmand's volatile districts of Nahr-e-Saraj and Sangeen.