KATHMANDU: The Taliban carried out a series of attacks on security checkpoints in southern Afghanistan overnight, killing a total of 28 Afghan policemen, Aljazeera reported.

Zelgai Ebadi, a spokesman for the Uruzgan governor, said Taliban fighters offered 28 local and national police officials a chance to go home if they surrendered on Tuesday night, “but after taking their guns, the Taliban killed them all”.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said the armed group carried them out after the police in the area refused to surrender to the fighters, according to the reports.

Another local official, speaking on condition of anonymity, put the toll at least 28 police officials, adding that three others managed to escape.

The violence comes as Taliban leaders and Afghan government-appointed negotiators started the long-delayed peace talks in Qatar earlier this month.

(With inputs from Agencies)