Eight guards were killed on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main US military base in Afghanistan.

At least eight people have been killed after Taliban gunmen opened fire on Afghan security guards in the country’s northern Parwan province.

According to Wahida Shahkar, the spokeswoman for the Parwan governor, the late Monday night shooting also left two other guards wounded. The guards were attacked on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main US military base in Afghanistan, she added.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement sent to the media.

The fighters have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces, and an affiliate of the ISIL group has been trying to expand its footprint in the country by launching large-scale attacks across Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, one person was killed and six were wounded when Afghan security forces on Monday night moved in to dismantle the last remaining tent set up by protesters rallying in the capital, Kabul.

Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive, first announced the incident during a live TV broadcast. He said the killings, which are under investigation, had “shocked us all”.

The Kabul protest began earlier this month, after a powerful truck bomb killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 450 in the heart of the city. Since then, scores of protesters have spent almost three weeks under huge tents on a road near the presidential palace and the blast site, as well as in other parts of the city. By Monday night, only the one, main tent had remained.

The protesters, however, reported two deaths and said 27 demonstrators were wounded in the police crackdown. A statement from the group said 11 others were arrested. The different casualty tolls could not immediately be reconciled.

The demonstration had prompted police to block all roads leading to the presidential palace and diplomatic areas and restrict the movement of vehicles and people during the past weeks.

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In a separate report form eastern Nangarhar province, a judge was killed when his vehicle was blown up by a sticky bomb on Tuesday morning, according to Attuhullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Khogyani said that Sher Rahman was a judge in an anti-corruption court. Three people were wounded, including two of the judge’s brothers, in the explosion, which took place in the provincial capital, Jalalabad.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar, but both the Taliban and Islamic State fighters are active in the region.