At least 10 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in two militant attacks in the country's north, local officials and the army said on April 13.
In northern Baghlan Province, at least five police officers were killed and four were wounded when their checkpoint came under attack by militants, according to a security official who was not authorized to speak to the media.
The official said the attack occurred in the Daha-e Ghori district. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Separately, in northern Balkh Province late on April 12, militants attacked an army checkpoint, killing five soldiers and wounding two others, said Hanif Rezaie, a spokesman for the Afghan Army commander in the north.
Rezaie said seven militants, including a group commander, were also killed in the battle in Chimtal district. Local sources put the number of slain soldiers at 10.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in Balkh.
In southwestern Farah Province, a suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle full of explosives inside the provincial capital, Farah, killing three civilians, including a child, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said.
The target was the police station in the city's first district, but the majority of the casualties were civilians, said Arian.
He said that besides the dead, 24 others, including young children and six police officers, were wounded in the attack, which occurred an hour before residents broke their fast on the first day of Ramadan.
The violence came just hours before U.S. officials said President Joe Biden would announce that all U.S. troops would withdraw from the country by September 11.
