KABUL, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Anti-government militants have intensified attacks on government interests ahead of parliamentary elections as scores have been killed over the past two days in the conflict-torn country.
Taliban insurgents, according to the officials, have stepped up offensives on security forces and in the latest wave of violence, the militant group raided security checkpoints in the 10th and 12th precinct of the southern Kandahar city on Sunday leaving one police officer and one insurgent dead, an official with the public relation office of the province said.
In a similar incident, the militants attacked security checkpoints in Surkh Kotal area outside Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of northern Baghlan province on Sunday morning as a result four attacking militants were killed and five others injured, provincial police spokesman Zabihullah Shija confirmed.
A total of 14 fighters including 12 Taliban insurgents and two police personnel have been killed elsewhere in the northern Balkh province over the past 24 hours, a police spokesman in the northern region Sayed Sarwar Hussaini said Sunday.
Over a dozen security personnel, according to local media reports have been killed in the western Farah province in a clash with militants.
Meantime, a statement of Afghan Defense Ministry reported 76 insurgents were killed elsewhere in the country over the past 24 hours.
Disputing the claim, Taliban sources asserted that dozens of security forces had been killed over the past two days.
In the meantime, spokesman for Interior Ministry Najib Danish said Sunday that 50,000-strong forces would be deployed across the country to provide security for the parliamentary elections slated for Oct. 20.
