At Least 10 Killed in Taliban Attacks in Afghanistan

Afghan forces. (AFP)
Afghan forces. (AFP)
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At Least 10 Killed in Taliban Attacks in Afghanistan

Afghan forces. (AFP)
Afghan forces. (AFP)

At least 12 people were killed on Tuesday in a suicide car bomb attack against a police headquarters in Afghanistan.

The attack targeted a police training center attached to the headquarters in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, officials said.

Officials and militants said that 60 people were wounded in the assault.

At least two attackers were also killed, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Three officials told Reuters that the provincial police chief was among the dead, but the ministry said it could only confirm that he had been wounded.

Both civilians and security forces were among the casualties, deputy public health director Hedayatullah Hameedi said.

“At the moment the area is sealed by the Crisis Response Unit and efforts are ongoing to eliminate the terrorists,” the ministry statement said.

In the western Farah province, police chief Abdul Maruf Fulad said the Taliban attacked a government compound in Shibkho district, killing three policemen.

In southern Ghazni province, the Taliban stormed a security compound, using a suicide car, and killed at least seven policemen.

Provincial chief police, Mohammad Zaman, stated that the attack in Andar district early on Tuesday morning triggered several hours of heavy fighting until the attackers were repelled.

The district compound has been destroyed, he added.



Chinese Hackers Reportedly Breached US Court Wiretap Systems

FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
TT

Chinese Hackers Reportedly Breached US Court Wiretap Systems

FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: US and Chinese flags are seen in this illustration taken, January 30, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Chinese hackers accessed the networks of US broadband providers and obtained information from systems that the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies are among the telecoms companies whose networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The hackers might have held access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized US requests for communications data, the newspaper said. It said the hackers had also accessed other tranches of internet traffic.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Beijing has in the past denied claims by the US government and others that it has used hackers to break into foreign computer systems.
Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of collecting intelligence. US investigators have dubbed it "Salt Typhoon.”
Earlier this year, US law enforcement disrupted a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Flax Typhoon," months after confronting Beijing about sweeping cyber espionage under a campaign named "Volt Typhoon."