Around 25 Afghan army soldiers have been killed after their convoy was ambushed by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan's northern Faryab province, officials say.
Around 20 others were wounded and 16 were taken hostage after hours of fighting in Qaisar district on Monday, Sayed Abdul Baqi Hashemi, a provincial council member, told dpa on Tuesday.
The convoy of around 80 vehicles abandoned a lone army base in Gormach district and was heading to Maimana, the capital of Faryab when it was ambushed, according to Hashemi and Mohammad Nadir Saeedi, another provincial council member.
Between 10 to 20 vehicles were left on the battlefield together with soldiers' bodies, both provincial council members said, adding that the vehicles were then destroyed by airstrikes on Monday night.
Saeedi said that with the base abandoned, Gormach district is now fully controlled by the Taliban as forces that were supposed to come and take over from neighbouring Badghis province never came.
Taliban militants have ramped up attacks on Afghan security forces, their facilities and the Afghan government in the past few months. Security forces are stretched thin across the war-torn country.
Dozens of Afghan army soldiers were killed in fighting with Taliban militants after their base was surrounded in Faryab province earlier this month.
Around 13.8 per cent of Afghan districts are under Taliban control while another 30 per cent are contested, according to a July report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
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