In coordinated attacks, Taliban kill 23 Afghan soldiers

Nearly two dozen members of security forces have been killed in coordinated attacks carried out by the Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan.

Vulnerable checkpoints in at least three provinces were targeted on Wednesday, officials said.

At least seven policemen were killed when the Taliban stormed a checkpoint in Balkh early in the day, provincial police chief Ajmal Fayez said.

He added that reinforcements had been dispatched to the post, which is located on the strategic highway connecting Balkh to neighboring Jawezjan province.

A spokesman for the Taliban claimed that the attack left 11 policemen dead, while Afzal Hadid, a member of the provincial council, put the death toll at nine, adding four others were missing.

"We are not sure whether these four police helped the Taliban in the attack or have been captured by them," Hadid said.

Separate attacks by the Taliban claimed the lives of at least nine members of security forces in northeastern province of Kunduz, and seven others in neighboring Takhar province, officials said.

According to the provincial spokesman for Takhar, at least 11 militants were killed as they assaulted a security checkpoint in Darqad district on the border with Tajikistan.

SS