Gunmen target policemen in deadly Kabul checkpoint attack

Taliban fighters have stormed a police checkpoint in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, killing at least three police officers and wounding three more.

The attackers threw hand grenades before opening fire at the police in Sunday night’s attack in the Doghabad area, said Kabul police spokesperson Basir Mujahid.

Two attackers were killed in the assault, according to Interior Ministry’s spokesperson Nusrat Rahimi.

The Taliban has stepped up attacks on security installations, even as it holds direct negotiations with officials from the United States to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan.

The group refuses to talk to the Afghan government which it dismisses as a “US puppet”.

Fighting continues across the country with the Taliban controlling or influencing more territory than ever since its removal by US-led troops.

The US has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission, known as Resolute Support, that trains and assists Afghan security forces in their battle against the Taliban and other groups.

Separately, a provincial official in southern Helmand province said at least seven civilians were killed and three wounded in an air attacks in Greshk district late on Sunday.

It’s unclear who carried out the attack.

According to findings from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released last month, at least 305 civilians were killed by pro-government forces between January and March, 52.5 percent of all deaths in that period.

Casualties caused by pro-government forces – 305 deaths and 303 injuries – were up 39 percent from the same period last year.

The report singled out a sharp uptick in casualties caused by search operations, especially those carried out by Afghan intelligence service special forces, or the Khost protection force, both supported by international troops, which “appear to act with impunity outside of the governmental chain of command”.

Air operations by international forces caused 140 deaths.