KABUL -- At least 23 people, mostly soldiers, were killed and more than a dozen wounded in a series of attacks and suicide bombings in Afghanistan Saturday (February 24), officials said.
In the biggest attack, Taliban militants stormed an army base in Farah Province, killing at least 18 soldiers and wounding two others.
"Last night a big group of militants attacked an army base in Bala Buluk District of Farah," Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said. "We have sent more reinforcements to the area."
The Taliban claimed responsibility. Deputy Governor Younus Rasooli said authorities had sent a fact-finding delegation to Bala Buluk to investigate the assault.
In another terrorist act, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the diplomatic area of Kabul during the morning rush hour, killing at least three people and wounding five others, Interior Ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP.
"At around 8:30am, a suicide bomber on foot, well-dressed with a necktie on, was identified at a checkpoint. He blew up his explosives, killing three and wounding five others," he said.
The "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the Kabul bombing.
Suicide car bombings in Helmand Province
Two other suicide car bombings Saturday in Helmand Province killed at least two soldiers and wounded more than a dozen others, officials said.
In the first incident, militants used a Humvee against an army base in Nad-e-Ali District, soldiers destroyed the vehicle with a rocket propelled grenade, provincial spokesman Omar Zwak told AFP.
"Unfortunately, two soldiers were killed ... and seven wounded," he said.
The Nad-e-Ali clash was followed by a second suicide car bombing in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, that wounded seven people.
That attack targeted a National Directorate of Security compound and occurred near a police headquarters in the city, Helmand police spokesman Salaam Afghan told AFP.
The Taliban claimed both attacks in Helmand.
