Afghan officials say a new wave of Taliban attacks has killed at least nine soldiers and police officers.
Mohammad Naser Mehri, the spokesman for the governor of the western Farah Province, said on April 24 that at least five soldiers were killed and two were wounded when their checkpoint was attacked by Taliban militants in the province's Bala Buluk district.
Six Taliban fighters were killed and three others were wounded in the battle, which lasted several hours, Mehri said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack in the eastern Ghazni Province that killed at least four members of the local police force and wounded seven.
The assailants targeted a security post in the district of Jaghatu, according to Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor. Noori said the battle lasted several hours and that the attackers used artillery and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the Ghazni attack in a message to the media.
Also on April 24, the Health Ministry raised the death toll from an April 22 suicide bombing by the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Kabul to 60, after three more victims died in the hospital.
On April 23, Taliban attacks in western Afghanistan killed 18 soldiers and police officers.
