PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Twelve people, including a district chief, were killed in latest Taliban attacks in Afghanistan's two northern provinces, officials said Friday.
In one attack, eight Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel were killed and two civilians injured in a clash following a Taliban ambush attack in Baghlan province Friday morning, a provincial health official said.
"The casualties were shifted to a provincial hospital following a fierce clash between security forces and Taliban in Surkh Kotal locality," Dand-e-Ghori district, Abdul Haleem Ghafari told Xinhua.
The government established the ALP, or community police, in 2010 to protect villages and districts around the country where army and police have limited presence.
In northern Faryab province, Khoja Sarrajuddin, administrative chief of Shirin Tagab district, together with three people, was killed in similar incident late Thursday, a spokesman of 707 Pamir Police Zone based in the region, told Xinhua on Friday.
Those among the killed were a son and a nephew of the deceased official.
Fighting has escalated in Afghanistan as the Taliban insurgency spreads from its traditional strongholds in the south and east to the once peaceful region in the north, where Taliban have been recruiting from among the youth.
On Wednesday, 45 Afghan soldiers and ALP personnel were killed and several others wounded after Taliban stormed a joint military camp in Baghlan.
