KABUL – In Afghanistan, thirty-two personnel of security forces andpro-government militia were killed during a series of clashes on securitycheckpoints in four provinces on Thursday.

According to provincial officials, Taliban attacks came in the northernprovinces of Kunduz, Baghlan, Takhar, and Badghis in the west.

Chief of the Qala-e-Zal district in Kunduz, Ahmad Fahim Qarluq, said alarge number of Taliban attacked security checkpoints in the early hours,killing ten soldiers and wounding eleven others. He said that twenty-fivefighters were also killed in retaliatory firing of security forces.

Officials said that in neighboring Baghlan and Takhar provinces, theTaliban killed sixteen members of pro-government militias in attacks onoutposts, officials said.

Spokesman for Badghis Governor, Jamshid Shahabi said six members of thesecurity forces were killed and ten wounded in clashes.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimedresponsibility for the attacks.