MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Militants killed at least 17 policemen in an ambush in the southern Afghanistan region of Helmand on Saturday, according to police, Reuters reported.
The attackers were affiliated with the Taliban militant group, the Afghanistan’s Khaama Press newspaper said, citing local officials. The Taliban, however, has not yet taken responsibility for the incident.
In late May, the Taliban militants attacked a checkpoint in the Helmand region, killing over ten police officers.
Afghanistan is suffering from the activity of the Taliban, a militant group formed in the 1990s. The insurgents are seeking to establish sharia law in the country, and are known to have been behind numerous deadly terror attacks.
The Taliban has boosted its operations in Afghanistan after NATO ended its International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in late 2014 and launched a non-combat mission in the country.