BAGHLAN-E-MARKAZI, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents destroyed an army base in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, rampaging through the area, attacking smaller outposts and killing dozens of soldiers and police, local officials said. The military installation was the second major base to fall to the insurgents in Baghlan Province in the past month, and the third in northern Afghanistan during the same period. Abdul Hai Nemati, the governor of Baghlan Province, said the Afghan National Army base at Mangalha village, in the Baghlan-e-Markazi District just north of the provincial capital of Pul-i-Kumri, had been completely surrounded by insurgents. Casualties for Afghan security forces have steadily risen in recent years, as the international coalition has mostly withdrawn and left most of the fighting to the Afghans. In the first 10 months of 2016, the number of Afghan police and soldiers who have died totaled 6,785, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction, a United States government agency.

Source: New York Times September 09, 2018 10:10 UTC