Taliban kill 18 Afghan soldiers

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan: Taliban fighters killed 18 Afghan soldiers — including some who were beheaded — after storming an army outpost in the remote mountainous northeast in a major attack before the spring fighting season, officials said on Monday. The attack in the Jurm district of Badakhshan province on Friday also left around a dozen soldiers missing, fuelling speculation they had been captured by insurgents.
Taliban insurgents have stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets since Washington backpedalled on plans to shrink the US force in Afghanistan this year by nearly half.