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Three Taliban militants killed in attack on Afghan intelligence agency office

Former Afghan Taliban militants are photographed holding weapons before they hand them over as part of a government peace and reconciliation process at a ceremony in Kunduz, May 6, 2015. (© AFP)

At least three Taliban militants have been killed after attacking an office of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in the war-ravaged country’s troubled south, security sources say.

Hasib Sediqi, a spokesman for the National Directorate for Security (NDS), said heavily-armed militants attacked the agency’s building in southern Kandahar Province on Sunday.

“The incident took place in Kandahar city early morning, when the first attacker detonated an explosives-laden truck at the entrance gate of the building,” media outlets quoted Sediqi as saying.

The senior Afghan official added that security guards at the compound’s gate shot and killed two other militants involved in the attack.

Sources say the militant raid at the intelligence agency also left at least four employees wounded. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ahmadi also claimed responsibility for an ongoing attack in the northwestern Badghis Province. Militants attacked Jawand District on Saturday night and took control of the governor’s office and police headquarters there, according to Bahauddin Qudosi, the head of the provincial council of Badghis. Security forces are reportedly still engaged in fighting with the militants occupying the buildings.

The developments come as the Taliban militants have started their annual spring offensive against Afghan security forces and the US-led foreign troops across the war-torn country.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed Taliban from power, but insecurity still remains across the country.

The US-led combat mission in Afghanistan ended on December 31, 2014. However, at least 13,500 foreign forces, mainly from the United States, have remained in the country in what Washington calls a support mission.

JR/HJL/SS


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