Kunduz, Afghanistan: Taliban fighters overran a police post in northern Afghanistan Thursday, killing eight officers, the provincial governor said, in an attack that underscores the militia's widening insurgency.
In the south, around two dozen militants and three other police officers were killed during an Afghan government operation that is now in its third day, a police commander said.
The police post attack took place in Kunduz city, capital of the province of the same name which has become more restive as the Islamist Taliban militia expand their footprint across Afghanistan's previously peaceful north.
"Taliban attacked a police post and killed eight policemen. There were nine people in the post, one of them survived though he was injured," Kunduz Governor Mohammad Omar said.
Residents say some areas of Kunduz have come under Taliban control, and describe recruitment drives that exploit high unemployment and disillusionment with a largely corrupt state security apparatus.
Three police officers were killed in the southern province of Uruzgan, a local police commander said.
In operations across the restive region which began on Monday, two dozen rebels had also been killed, he said.
Nato and the United States have 141,000 troops in the country, set to peak at 150,000 in coming weeks as efforts escalate to quell the insurgency, especially in the south.
