Taliban kill seven police officers in eastern Afghanistan

A security officer arrives at the site of a would-be suicide attack near a park in Kabul (AP) Credit: AP/Press Association Images

The Taliban have killed seven policemen after storming a checkpoint in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province.

The attack took place the previous night in the district of Ghani Kahil, said the provincial police chief, Ghulam Sanayee Stanikzai.

Five Taliban fighters were killed in the attack.

Mr Stanikzai also said that in Khogyani district, also in Nangarhar province, a government air strike on Sunday night left 20 Taliban fighters dead.

There was no statement from the Taliban on either the Ghani Kahil attack or the air strike.

Earlier on Sunday, a suicide bomber on foot struck outside the building of the rural rehabilitation and development ministry in the capital, Kabul, killing seven people and wounding 15.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted government employees and warning their attacks will reach “all who help the Crusaders”, in reference to foreign forces.

Last month, a suicide bombing near the same ministry killed 12 people and wounded 31 others, mostly government employees.

Also on Monday, a would-be suicide attacker was shot and killed by police in Kabul before he was able to get close to a gathering of supporters of the country’s first vice president, general Abdul Rashid Dostum, according to police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai. General Dostum is currently in Turkey.