22 dead across three Afghan provinces

At least 22 security forces were killed in insurgent attacks across Kabul, Kunduz and Kandahar provinces, officials said Tuesday.

At least four died after a car bomb hit a security convoy in the western outskirts of Kabul. No group has claimed responsibility.

The attack occurred in Paghman district, one of the few locations around the Afghan capital where residents can take their families at weekends to escape the city and enjoy nature.

Meanwhile, at least 10 police officers were killed when Taliban militants attacked a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province, according to provincial council member Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani.

The attack, which went on for at least three hours, also wounded 11 others.

In the southern Kandahar, eight officers died after Taliban militants stormed a checkpoint in the relatively peaceful Arghistan district of the province, a spokesman for the provincial governor, Aziz Ahmad Azizi, said. Eleven Taliban militants have also reportedly died in the clashes.

Taliban militants have ramped up their attacks on Afghan security forces and government facilities in recent months, leaving troops thinly stretched throughout the country.

On Monday, at least 32 members of the Afghan security forces were killed in several Taliban attacks across the country.