Taliban ambush kills local police chief in Afghanistan

KABUL – A district police chief in Afghanistan was killed in a Taliban ambush as he rushed to a checkpoint that was under attack, an official said.

Iqbal Bahir, the spokesman for the police chief of the western Farah province, said two other policemen were wounded in the attack late Monday.

The Taliban, who carry out near-daily assaults on Afghan security forces, claimed the attack.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, an official said airstrikes in the northern Jawzjan province killed at least 26 Islamic State fighters. Mohammad Reza Ghafori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said those killed included foreign fighters from France and Uzbekistan. He says another 20 militants were wounded.

In the eastern Nangarhar province, at least one civilian was killed and 14 others were wounded Monday during a battle between Afghan security forces and Islamic State fighters, said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, who said “dozens” of militants were killed. Inamullah Miakhial, a spokesman at the local hospital, said women and children were among those wounded.

An affiliate of the Islamic State group emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 and has steadily expanded its presence, carrying out a number of deadly attacks, including a suicide bombing at a Shiite cultural centre in Kabul last month that claimed at least 41 lives.