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KABUL: Six policemen guarding Kamal Khan Dam in Nimroz and nine civilians in Ghazni province were killed in two separate militant attacks, local officials said, amid an intensive campaign of terror the Taliban have launched in recent month against Afghan forces and civilians.
Nine people including three civilians, all women, were killed in a Taliban-planted mine explosion in Kotal Roza area in Ghazni province, said spokesman for Ghazni police, Ahmad Khan Sirat. He said another mine exploded when the police arrived in the scene to help the victims, injuring two police soldiers.
Director of Ghazni government hospital, Baz Mohammad Hemmat, confirmed nine people had been killed in the incident, including four women, and that they had been taken to the hospital.
In Nimroz, Taliban insurgents stormed a police checkpoint guarding the Kamal Khan Dam in the Qala-e-Fatah on Friday night, killing six policemen, said spokesman to Nimroz Governor Bahram Haqmal. Two other soldiers were wounded.
The Taliban rejected involvement in the attack on the dam’s guards.
Kamal Khan Dam is located near Iranian border and has been built on Helmand River. The dam is one of the largest water management projects in Afghanistan. Helmand River flows out of the country, but the dam will mitigate the outflow of waters to the minimum and help generate the much-needed electricity for Nimroz province.
About three months ago, President Ghani traveled to Nimroz province to visit the third phase of the project. Presidential Palace had said at the time that the project would be completed and ready to reserve water in four months.
Officials at the project said that with the completion of the dam, thousands of acres of land would be irrigated and 9 megawatts of electricity would be generated.
This is as Nimroz has faced a rise in insurgency. The Taliban attacked an army base in the Khashrod district of Nimroz province, killing 20 police officers and taking six others hostage.
Amnesty International has also expressed concern about the increase in civilian casualties in Afghanistan, noting that 50 civilians have been killed in the past week alone. It added that 180 civilians had been killed and 375 wounded in Afghanistan in the past month. This shows that the ongoing peace talks in Doha have failed to protect civilians.
