8 police, 5 militants killed during clashes in Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN – Eight policemen and five Taliban militants were killed during armed clashes in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province Saturday night, local police confirmed on Sunday.

The clashes broke out after militants armed with guns and rocket launchers stormed security checkpoints in Shahrak-e-Turkmen locality, Nahri Shahi district, in the north of provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif city, Adil Shah Adil from provincial police told Xinhua. There were also six police and seven militants wounded in the fighting, he said.

The province has been the scene of heavy clashes between the Taliban militants and the government security forces in recent years.The militants of the Taliban outfit have claimed that the insurgent fighters killed 12 policemen in Balkh. Zabihullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, stated on his twitter account that Taliban seized an armored military vehicle and weapons from the checkpoints. Enditem-(Xinhua)

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