At least six security personnel assigned for the protection of the Kamal Khan hydroelectric and irrigation dam in the southwestern province of Nimroz were killed in an attack by the Taliban on Friday evening, said Nizam Khpulwak, spokesman for National Water Management Authority. 

Khpulwak said two security personnel were wounded in the attack near the Kamal Khan dam, which is under construction by the government.

The security forces are deployed by the public protection department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs to protect infrastructural projects, including Kamal Khan Dam.

Taliban has not commented on the attack.

Kamal Khan Dam, built on the Helmand River in Chaharbarak district in Nimroz, has the capacity to irrigate 174,000 hectares of land in three districts and also it can supply water to Zaranj city, the center of Nimroz, according to the National Water Affairs Regulation Authority.

The dam is expected to provide nine megawatts of power, and, in the first stage, it will store 52 million cubic meters of water, according to the authority. 

This comes a day after an attack by the Taliban on an army outpost in Khashrod district, Nimroz province, in which over 20 security force members were killed and six more were taken hostage, according to Khashrod district governor.