KABUL, Afghanistan

At least 40 Afghan troops were killed on Thursday in separate Taliban attacks in six different northern and western provinces, local officials said.

Mohammad Jawad Hijri, spokesman of the Takhar governor’s office, told reporters that the Taliban attacked a police station in Khwaja Ghar district killing seven officers and injuring six others.

Separately, Baghlan province’s Deputy Council Manager Shamsul Haq Barakzai said militants attacked another police post in Husainhil area of the province.

During the attack, nine police officers were killed and six others were injured, Barakzai said. The Taliban asserted that the attack claimed 38 lives of security officers.

Similar attacks were staged in restive Badghes, Jawzjan, Herat and Kunduz provinces claiming the lives of at least 24 security forces.

Mohammad Yosuf, chairman for the Kunduz provincial council, told Anadolu Agency the rebels attacked check posts in the Qala-e-Zaal area of the province killing eight security forces.

The local Salam Afghanistan radio reported the rebels targeted Abqamari and Muqar districts in Badghes killing eight security forces while in Herat and Jawzjan Pashtun Zarghoon and Faizabad districts were raided.

The Ministry of Defense noted in a daily round-up of ongoing security operations that 85 terrorists have been eliminated in the past 24 hours across the country. It stated a total of 15 air and ground raids were conducted against the rebels.