TIL Desk/World/Kabul/ The Taliban have claimed responsibility for a blistering attack on a government compound in Afghanistan’s central province of Ghazni that killed at least 15 members of the security forces.
The insurgent group’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told over the telephone that after the attack in the Khuja Omari district, not far from the provincial capital also called Ghazni, all security posts in the district were under Taliban control.
His claim could not be independently confirmed and the government did not immediately respond to it. Mujahid gave a higher casualty figure among the Afghan forces, which the Taliban often do, and a significantly lower death toll among the insurgent attackers.
He also confirmed the government’s statement that the assault killed three top local officials the district’s governor, intelligence chief and deputy police chief. A lawmaker in the Afghan Parliament said three top district officials and several security forces were killed in a Taliban attack on a government compound in Ghazni province.