The Taliban crashed into a police headquarters in Afghanistan on Sunday morning with suicide car bombs, killing five policeman in the process.
The attack on the headquarters, which the Taliban quickly claimed, occurred in eastern Afghanistan in the Paktia province, the Associated Press reports.
According to Sardar Wali Tabasim, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, the assault not only killed five policeman, but also wounded another eight as one of the Taliban fighters managed to get inside the compound and detonate his suicide vest.
Doctors at a hospital in Gardez city said that 30 people were also wounded, 20 of whom are civilians.
An explosion at the site of the headquarters was so powerful that it shattered windows more than a mile away.
The Taliban has stepped up its attacks in Afghanistan as part of an escalating offensive in the spring and summer months, prompting Secretary of Defense James Mattis to admit in a recent hearing at the Senate Committee on Armed Services that “We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. And we will correct this as soon as possible.”
Days after Mattis delivered that statement, a Trump administration official told the Associated Press that Mattis was set to make use of his new authority to decide troop levels in Afghanistan early next week by sending nearly 4,000 troops to the region. The Pentagon, however, denied the report, further deepening tension between the White House and the Pentagon. While Mattis seems to maintain a strong relationship with President Donald Trump, the same cannot be said for the relationship between Mattis and Trump’s aides.
The Taliban also hit U.S. forces Saturday in northern Afghanistan, wounding seven soldiers in an insider attack.
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