KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: At least 11 Afghan police officers were killed on Sunday when Taliban fighters assaulted their checkpoints in volatile Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, authorities said.
The assaults on two police post are the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Afghan security forces claimed by the Taliban.
Taliban insurgents launched the attacks in the early morning in the Qalai Sang area of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.
“Our police fought them back, but unfortunately 11 of our police were martyred and two wounded,” provincial governor Hayatullah Hayat said, adding that the militants fled after the attack.
Provincial police chief Ghafar Safi said 15 Taliban fighters were also killed during the skirmish.
After 16 years of war the resurgent militants show no signs of fatigue, ramping up their campaign against beleaguered government forces, underscoring rising insecurity in the war-torn country.
Afghan police and troops — beset by a high death toll, desertions and non-existent “ghost soldiers” on the payroll — have been struggling to beat back the insurgents since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in December 2014.
Also on Sunday, a suicide car bomb attack targeting NATO forces in neighboring Kandahar province killed at least one woman and wounded four other Afghan civilians, General Abdul Razeq, the provincial police chief, said.
A NATO spokesman in Kabul said they were still checking reports concerning the attack.
Taliban fighters kill 11 in attacks on police checkpoints in Afghanistan
Taliban fighters kill 11 in attacks on police checkpoints in Afghanistan
Las Vegas police investigate terrorism event after vehicle rammed into power substation
LAS VEGAS: Las Vegas police say they’re investigating a car that rammed into a power substation as a ” terrorism-related event.”
There’s no ongoing threat to the public, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a news conference Friday.
The driver of the vehicle was 23-year-old Dawson Maloney from Albany, New York, who was reported missing and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, McMahill said.
The man had communicated with family before the crash, referencing self-harm, and said he was going to commit an act that would place him on the news. He referred to himself as a terrorist in a message sent to his mother, according to police.
Authorities found explosive materials and multiple books “related to extremist ideologies” in Maloney’s hotel room, McMahill said. The books included ones about right- and left-wing extremism, environmental extremism, white supremacism and anti-government ideology, he said.
“These findings significantly elevate the seriousness of this incident,” McMahill said.
Maloney is listed as a student at Albany Law School in the class of 2027. He was also an honors student for multiple semesters at Siena University, located in New York.
Two shotguns, an assault rifle-style pistol, and flame throwers were found in his rental car, McMahill said. Maloney was wearing what police described as “soft-body armor.”
Authorities recovered a 3D printer and several gun components needed to assemble a firearm from an Albany residence.
Boulder City is a historic town located approximately 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas and home to the Hoover Dam, which is considered one of the country’s modern civil engineering wonders. The dam provides water to millions of people and generates an average of 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year for Nevada, Arizona and California.
The power substation that was rammed is owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The facility works closely with Hoover Dam and transfers power to the Los Angeles basin, McMahill said. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said in a statement to The Associated Press that it is aware of the incident, and there were no impacts or disruptions to its operations.
Boulder City Police Chief Timothy Shea said there is no evidence of major damage to critical infrastructure and no service disruptions.
A similar incident occurred in 2023 when a man rammed a car through a fence at a solar power facility in the desert northeast of Las Vegas, setting the car on fire. The solar power facility served Las Vegas Strip casinos. He was declared unfit for trial. That attack followed several incidents and arrests involving electrical substations in states including Washington, Oregon and North Carolina and concerns expressed by federal officials about the security of the nation’s electricity transmission network.
“We are heartbroken to hear of the tragic passing of one of our law students, Dawson Maloney, in an off-campus incident,” said Tom Torello, director of communications and marketing at Albany Law School, in a statement.
