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Taliban Attacks 10 Police Stations in Afghanistan, 100 Officers Missing

© REUTERS / StringerA member of the Taliban insurgent and other people stand at the site during the execution of three men in Ghazni Province on April 18, 2015.
A member of the Taliban insurgent and other people stand at the site during the execution of three men in Ghazni Province on April 18, 2015. - Sputnik International
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At least 10 police stations in northeast Afghanistan have come under attack by the Taliban and as many as 100 missing police officers are feared dead, an Afghan military official said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) —  Nearly 100 police officers went missing after overnight clashes in Warduj, Badakhshan province on the Pakistani border, and a number of bodies with gunshot marks was found later in the area, the military source added.

"Taliban insurgents have taken control of a number of police posts and also stole about 17 security force vehicles," the unidentified official told the Afghan news channel TOLOnews.

Alexei Arbatov, the head of the Center for International Security of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that there is a risk that militants from the ISIL, al-Qaeda and Taliban could all merge together in Afghanistan and that would pose a serious threat to Russia's security. - Sputnik International
Possible Merge of ISIL, al-Qaeda, Taliban Poses Threat to Russia
The series of incidents took place late Sunday against the backdrop of informal talks between the militant group and government delegates in Doha, Qatar. Media reports emerging from the closed-door meetings said the sides came close to reaching a ceasefire before ultimately deciding to press on with the 13-year war.

TOLOnews reported Sunday's attacks followed an encounter in the Badakhshan province's town of Jurm, where some 30 soldiers have been killed nearly a month ago. Two policemen in the south Afghan city of Lashkar Gah were injured in twin suicide attacks less than three weeks ago.

The withdrawal of an international contingent from Afghanistan on December 31, 2014 marks the first time Afghan security forces face Taliban's insurgencies without foreign help. Waves of attacks by the group seeking to impose sharia law in Afghanistan and Pakistan have intensified every spring since 2006 and are commonly referred to as a "spring offensive."

Despite an official end to US and NATO military operations against al-Qaeda and Taliban, a residual force of nearly 10,000 remains in Afghanistan.

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