KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A Taliban attack on an Afghan army outpost near the northern city of Kunduz has killed at least 29 soldiers, while air strikes in other parts of the country killed dozens of insurgents, officials said on Thursday.

On the day that NATO leaders meeting in Brussels were discussing Afghanistan, the fighting was a sharp reminder that no end to the war is in sight despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent by Kabul’s international allies.

Kunduz, a strategic northern city which the Taliban have come close to taking twice in the past three years, has been relatively calm but fighting has picked up since the end of a three-day truce during last month’s Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Sunnatullah Temori, a spokesman for the governor in neighboring Takhar province, said the soldiers were killed when the Taliban stormed a base in Pul-e-Momin, an area between the provinces of Kunduz and Takhar late on Wednesday.

He said the insurgents had seized a large quantity of weapons and ammunition and said fighting was threatening the center of nearby Khwaja-e-Ghar district, which he warned could fall if reinforcements were not sent quickly.

The latest fighting comes despite speculation about possible peace talks between the government and the Taliban, with calls from a special religious council meeting in Saudi Arabia this week for negotiations to end the 17-year conflict.

The United States last year stepped up air strikes as part of a strategy to force the Taliban to the negotiating table and commanders say that together with the fledgling Afghan air force, the campaign has inflicted heavy casualties on the insurgents.

However, despite the temporary Eid ceasefire, the Taliban have rejected peace talks while Islamic State militants, opposed to both the Western-backed government and the Taliban, have claimed a series of deadly suicide attacks in the past two weeks.

On Thursday, officials said dozens of militant fighters were killed in ground and air operations in Zurmat and Ahmad Aba districts of the eastern province of Paktia while in Ghazni, to the south, at least 27 Taliban were killed by an air strike on Wednesday.

Heavy fighting was also reported in the western province of Farah, where the Taliban came close to overrunning the provincial capital in May.

In Logar province, immediately to the south of Kabul, the Taliban burned down a school, the second they have destroyed in a month, Kabir Haqmal, a spokesman for the ministry of education said.</s>Taliban insurgents stormed a key military base in northeastern Afghanistan, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding 17 others.

Officials confirmed the casualties Thursday, telling VOA the pre-dawn surprise assault in the Khwaja Ghar district in Takhar province enabled rebels to seize all military equipment placed at the Afghan National Army (ANA) installation.

Provincial government spokesman, Sunatullah Timoori, said heavy fighting erupted in the area following the attack and Afghan air power is backing ground forces trying to beat back the insurgents.

Some reports said government forces suffered nearly 40 fatalities.

The Taliban’s so-called “Red Unit” commando force executed the attack, using night-vision googles, according to Afghan army officials.

The ANA base, known as “Pul-e-Momin”, is considered the gateway to Taliban-held Dasht-e-Archi district in the neighboring Kunduz province.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group’s fighters captured 11 security outposts before overrunning the ANA base.

In a statement sent to journalists, Mujahid claimed the insurgent offensive killed more than 70 Afghan soldiers, seized several tanks and armored vehicles along with weapons, though Taliban battlefield claims are often inflated.

Separately, the Afghan Defense Ministry disclosed Thursday airstrikes targeted a high-profile Taliban meeting in southeastern Ghazni province, killing 24 insurgents and wounding 17 others.

A ministry statement said several key rebel commanders were among the injured, including Amir Khan Mutaqi, who was a Taliban minister during 1996-2001 when the Islamist group was in control of most of Afghanistan.

The Taliban dismissed the claims as baseless “enemy propaganda”, saying it is meant only to draw the attention away from battlefield losses insurgents are inflicting on Afghan forces.

Earlier this month, Taliban fighters launched coordinated attacks on multiple locations in Ghazni, gaining new ground in the province and inflicting heavy casualties on Afghan forces.Ghazni is located on the main highway linking the national capital with southern Afghanistan.

The latest violence comes as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was in Brussels to attend a NATO summit debating the 17-year-old war in his country.

Thousands of NATO forces, mostly Americans, are in the country, training, advising and assisting Afghan forces battling the Taliban and fighting terrorist groups, including Islamic State.

Despite U.S. assertions of making battlefield progress, security breaches continue in Afghanistan.

International-backed efforts to persuade the Taliban to quit violence and engage in a peace dialogue with the Kabul government have also failed to produce results. The insurgency is demanding all foreign forces to withdraw from the country before it considers participating in an intra-Afghan dialogue.
• Heavy Clashes Take A Toll On Govt Forces And Taliban</s>A series of near-simultaneous attacks blamed on the Taliban have killed dozens of Afghan soldiers in the country's northern Kunduz Province, security forces say.

"We have suffered casualties. The Taliban has also suffered casualties," Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish told the AFP news agency on July 12.

He added that an air-and-ground operation against Taliban fighters was under way.

Officials said militants used night-vision goggles and fired artillery shells as they launched simultaneous raids on several Afghan military bases and posts in Kunduz's Dasht-e Arch district.

"Since we don't have the night-vision [goggles], the Taliban can get close to soldiers without them noticing," an Afghan commander told AFP.

Taliban extremists have bolstered their fighting capabilities by stealing U.S.-made Humvees, weapons, and other equipment, including night-vision goggles, during raids on Afghan military sites.

An official casualty total from the attacks was not immediately available. But AP and AFP quoted other security sources as saying that at least 30-40 security personnel had been killed and many others wounded.

Army spokesman Mohammad Hanif Rezaie said 15 soldiers were killed and 13 others wounded in a four-hour gunbattle at one security post in Dasht-e Arch.

In Takhar, a spokesman for the governor said an army base on the province border with Kunduz had been attacked and was now under Taliban control.

The spokesman, Sunatullah Timor, told AFP that 29 security personnel had been killed and another 17 wounded.

"No reinforcements have come to the area yet," he said.

In a Twitter statement, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks and said its fighters had captured one army base and 11 posts, killing 65 soldiers and "many local police officers."

In a separate incident in the southeastern province of Ghazni, Afghan forces launched air strikes on a gathering of high-ranking Taliban members, killing 24 militants and wounding 17.

The Kabul government has struggled in the past year against resurgent Taliban fighters, as well as Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda militants, nearly two decades after a U.S.-led coalition drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001.

The Afghan Defense Ministry on July 8 said its forces had doubled their offensive operations against insurgents since the end of the government's unilateral cease-fire directed toward the Taliban.

President Ashraf Ghani declared an end to the 18-day truce, but he also called on the Taliban to resume peace negotiations. IS and Al-Qaeda were not included in the cease-fire.

So far, the Taliban have not responded to Ghani's offers for dialogue, instead demanding to sit down with the United States, which has dismissed this proposal.

The United States has some 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, providing the main component of the NATO mission to support and train local forces.

NATO leaders meeting in Brussels said they had agreed to "sustain our presence in Afghanistan until conditions indicate a change is appropriate" and that the alliance had extended financing for the effort through 2024.

"This will help them further develop their special forces and air force, as they continue to fight international terrorism. We also expressed strong support for President Ghani's bold peace proposal," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on July 12.

With on reporting by AFP and AP</s>The Afghan security forces have suffered heavy casualties in coordinated attacks by the Taliban in northern Kunduz province, officials said Thursday.

The Taliban militants launched simultaneous raids on a military base and post in Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province on Wednesday overnight, killing as many as 44 Afghan army soldiers and wounding 17 others, according to Kunduz provincial council members.

Reports suggest the attacks were carried out by the Taliban elite Red Unit, using night-vision goggles.

Taliban have stolen armoured Humvees, weapons and other military equipment – including night-vision goggles – in previous raids on Afghan security forces, helping them to carry out devastating attacks in the country.

Confirming the Taliban incident in Dasht-e-Archi district, the provincial governor’s spokesman said that the exact figure of casualties in the attack was not cleared yet.

The official added that further troops have been deployed in the district and that the Taliban insurgents have suffered casualties in the incident.

According to the provincial council members of Kunduz, the attack comes as result of the local security officials’ negligence and late deployment of addition troops.</s>Afghani soldiers are seen at a military base after a ‘Taliban’ suicide attack – Archived

However, figures provided Thursday about the attack in Dasht-e- Archi district varied between officials.

Mohammad Yosuf Ayoubi, a provincial council member, said between 20 to 25 Afghan army soldiers were killed after ‘Taliban’ forces attacked the posts. He said the number of injured is unknown and that local government officials were not providing figures.

However, Zargul Alami, another provincial council member, said 12 soldiers were killed and dozens of others had been injured in a three-hour-long firefight.

Government officials have yet to comment on the issue.

‘Taliban’ spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said around 16 soldiers were killed and wounded in the attack.

Kunduz is one of the most volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan. The ‘Taliban’ has an active presence and controls several districts across the province, while others remain contested.</s>KABUL — The Taliban struck Thursday in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz, leaving 15 soldiers dead there, and in western Farah province, where they killed four policemen, officials said.

In Kunduz, Taliban fighters tried to overrun a military security post in the district of Dasht-e-Arch, using artillery shells, according to army spokesman Mohammad Hanif Rezaie, who is based in Balkh province.

Along with the 15 killed, at least 13 soldiers were wounded in the four-hour-long gunbattle, he added. Rezaie also said that at least six Taliban fighters were killed, their bodies left lying on the site.

However, Mohammad Yosuf Ayubi, the head of the provincial council, said as many as 30 soldiers were killed. The disparate death tolls could not be immediately reconciled.

Later, Rezaie said the Taliban blew up a bridge they had booby-trapped leading to the site of the gunbattle to prevent military reinforcements from reaching the scene.

In the attack in Farah, the governor’s spokesman Mohammad Naser Mehri said the Taliban targeted a police checkpoint.

The Taliban have not so far claimed either attack but the insurgents have recently stepped up assaults in both provinces and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in Farah’s Khak-e Safad district, killing five civilians, including two women and a small child. That same day, two suicide bombers stormed an education department building in eastern Nangarhar province, killing at least 10 people. Both the Taliban and an Islamic State group affiliate are active in Nangarhar.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has repeatedly extended calls to the Taliban for peace talks but the insurgents have rejected them outright.

NATO leaders are expected to discuss Afghanistan later Thursday at their summit in Brussels during which the alliance is expected to make a commitment to keep funding the Afghan army and its training mission.</s>KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say the latest Taliban attacks have killed at least 15 soldiers and four policemen.

Army spokesman Mohammad Hanif Rezaie, who is based in Balkh province, says Taliban fighters tried to overrun security post in northern Kunduz province early on Thursday morning.

He says they were using artillery to attack the troops and that along with the 15 killed, at least 13 soldiers were wounded in the four-hour-long gunbattle.

However, Mohammad Yosuf Ayubi, the head of the provincial council in Dasht-e-Arch district where the attack happened, says 30 soldiers were killed.

The disparate death toll could not be immediately reconciled.

And in western Farah province, governor's spokesman Mohammad Naser Mehri says the Taliban killed four policemen in an attack on their checkpoint early in the morning.</s>Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces in the country's north have caused "heavy casualties", officials said Thursday, putting the number of soldiers killed as high as 40 in fighting that is ongoing.

Militants using night-vision goggles launched simultaneous raids on several Afghan military bases and posts in Dashte Archi district in Kunduz province overnight, defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish and other Afghan security sources told AFP.

"We have suffered casualties, the Taliban have also suffered casualties," Radmanish said.

Between 10 and 15 Afghan soldiers had been killed so far, and about the same number wounded, he added.

But an Afghan security source told AFP that the death toll among security forces was "more than 40", and another confirmed that 39 had been killed and 10 wounded.

A separate security source said there had been "heavy casualties" among the soldiers.

An air and ground operation against the Taliban was under way, Radmanish said.

The night-vision goggles helped the Taliban fighters execute their pre-dawn attack, a senior Afghan commander told AFP.

He said the attacks were carried out by the group's elite Red Unit.

"Since we don't have the night vision (goggles), the Taliban can get close to soldiers without them noticing," he said.

Mohammad Hanif Rezayee, a spokesman for the 209 Shaheen Army Corps in the north, said two military posts had fallen to the Taliban, but security forces had managed to beat back an attack on a base.

In a separate incident, Afghan forces launched airstrikes on a gathering of high-ranking Taliban members in the southeastern province of Ghazni, killing 24 and wounding 17, the defence ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqi, who was a Taliban minister during its 1996-2001 regime, was among the injured, the defence ministry said.

A recent ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban during the Islamic holiday Eid had raised hopes that an end to hostilities in the war-weary country was possible.

Since then, however, the Taliban has returned to the battlefield, launching deadly attacks against the Afghan military across the country.

The latest attacks come as President Ashraf Ghani attends a NATO summit in Brussels where he will be hoping to get a greater commitment from members to the nearly 17-year conflict.

Currently, there are about 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, providing the main component of the NATO mission there to support and train local forces.</s>Taliban insurgents stormed a key military base in northeastern Afghanistan, killing at least 30 soldiers and wounding 17 others.

Officials confirmed the casualties Thursday, telling VOA the pre-dawn surprise assault in the Khwaja Ghar district in Takhar province enabled rebels to seize all military equipment placed at the Afghan National Army (ANA) installation.

Provincial government spokesman, Sunatullah Timoori, said heavy fighting erupted in the area following the attack and Afghan air power is backing ground forces trying to beat back the insurgents.</s>Co-ordinated Taliban attacks on two Afghan army bases and three checkpoints in the country's north left at least 30 soldiers dead, officials say.

Kunduz district provincial council member Maulawi Abdullah said 15 people were wounded in the battles late Wednesday.

Asam Afzali, a councillor in Takhar, estimated the number of Afghan troops killed at about 40.

It was not immediately clear if member of the Taliban were killed or wounded in the attacks on posts which are located between Dasht-e Archi district of Kunduz and Khwaja Ghar district of Takhar province.

The militants subsequently set fire to the bases after they overran them, according to Afzali.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said around 72 soldiers were killed and nine others were wounded in the attacks.

Kunduz and Takhar are among the most volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban has an active presence and controls several districts across the provinces, while others remain contested.
According to officials, an attack by the Taliban near Kunduz kills 29 Afghan Army soldiers. Air strikes kill dozens of militants elsewhere in the country.