Clashes keep pace with US troop pullout

Now controlling key base, Afghan govt says over 100 Taliban fighters killed

KABUL－Fighting between Afghan government forces and the Taliban has left more than 100 insurgents dead in just 24 hours, the Afghan Defense Ministry said on Sunday as it took control of a key operating US military base.

The US military handed over Camp Antonik in the restive southern province of Helmand to Afghan forces, a day after it formally began withdrawing its remaining troops from the country.

The Taliban and government forces clashed across several provinces, the ministry said, including in the former insurgent bastion of Kandahar where the US military carried out a "precision strike" on Saturday as it began the final troop pullout.