Taliban fighters during a military exercise before “Operation al-Khandagh”
On September 20, Taliban attacked a checkpoint of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) in the city of Tarinkot, the capital of the central province of Urozgan, according to the Taliban news agency Voice of Jihad.
The Taliban claimed that its fighters killed 8 personnel of the ANA and the ANP and injured 7 others during their attack. Furthermore, the checkpoint was burned to the ground and three armored vehicles carrying military equipment were reportedly destroyed.
Few hours prior to the attack, the ANA shelled several positions of the Taliban around Tarinkot. Voice of Jihad claimed that one of the shells hit a civilian house killing 6 children and injuring two others. However, these claims have not been confirmed yet.
The new attack could be a sign that the Taliban is working to expand its control in the center of Afghanistan. Usually the Afghan group carry out such hit and run attacks in the northern and western parts of the country, where its influence is way stronger.
