Taliban kills 9 soldiers in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan

At least nine Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban assault on their check post in Logar province bordering the capital Kabul Wednesday night, an official said.

Dedar Lawang, spokesperson for the provincial governor, told Anadolu Agency the incident took place in the Sark district of the province.

He said dozens of Taliban insurgents staged the attack, adding: “The attack was repulsed and ‘scores’ of the Taliban were also killed, unfortunately we have nine soldiers martyred.”

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

This comes after President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday renewed his call on the Taliban to cease-fire amid the coronavirus pandemic in the country.

“The UN Secretary-General, and in particular some countries in the region, have called on all parties to the conflict to cease-fire in order to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by the crisis. I call on the Taliban to respond positively to this legitimate call by the UN, the countries of the region, the people of Afghanistan and the government to end the war and cease-fire,” Ghani said in a televised speech.

On Thursday, health authorities in Afghanistan confirmed a total of 840 coronavirus cases in the country so far, with 30 casualties and 54 recoveries. As per the fresh figures, the capital Kabul has surpassed frontline state of Herat, bordering Iran, in number of daily infections.

Since the virus emerged last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, it has spread to at least 185 countries and regions. There are more than 2.07 million confirmed infections globally, with over 137,600 deaths and 518,600 recoveries, according to the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.