KANDAHAR: At least 14 Afghan soldiers and police were killed during intensefighting with the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, officials said onMonday, as unabated violence gripped the country despite ongoing peacetalks.
Taliban fighters launched an overnight assault late on Sunday on severalAfghan security force positions in the southern province of Uruzgan,inflicting a heavy toll that left Afghan troops vulnerable to being overrun.
The government-controlled district of Gizab also risked falling intoinsurgent hands, officials said.
“Intense fighting is ongoing. Our forces have retreated from severaloutposts,” Zelgai Ebadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said.
Officials said 14 Afghan security forces had been killed and more than adozen more wounded.
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“The fighting is now close to police headquarters. We need morereinforcements,” said Amir Mohammad Barekzai, head of the Uruzganprovincial council.
The battle comes as Taliban and Afghan government negotiators are meetingin Doha, where they are trying to find a way to end 19 years of war.
