Taliban Attack Major Base in Eastern Afghanistan
By ROD NORDLAND and FAHIM ABEDJUNE 18, 2017
KABUL, Afghanistan — Five Afghan police officers were killed
and 18 people were wounded in a Taliban attack Sunday on a major base in the eastern province of Paktia, Afghan officials said.
Another car drove through the gap, and at least three attackers emerged
and began shooting at police officers, according to accounts from Asadullah Sherzad, commander of the 303rd Spin Ghar Police Zone, and from Najibullah Danish, the spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry.
The attack on Spin Ghar region’s police headquarters began when a suicide bomber detonated
a car full of explosives at the gate of the compound, creating a breach, officials said.
The Spin Ghar base is home to regular police, a Special Forces police unit and a regional headquarters, Commander Sherzad said.
The police said they killed most of the attackers, but that at least one remained holed up inside, firing at Afghan forces.
In April, 10 Taliban attackers gained entrance to the headquarters of the Afghan National Army’s 209th Corps in northern Afghanistan, rampaging through the base
and killing more than 160 soldiers, many of whom were unarmed.
The wounded included nine police officers and nine civilians, he said.