AFGHANISTAN ATTACK KILLS MORE THAN 20..
A series of militant attacks in Afghanistan
killed more than 20 people, officials said on Saturday, ahead of an
international meeting next week aimed at building diplomatic support for
hoped-for peace talks with the Taliban.
Taliban militants attacked an Afghan army post overnight on Friday, killing 18
government soldiers, while a suicide bomber in the capital killed three people
and wounded five, and separate attacks in Helmand killed at least three others.
The attacks came as a high-level NATO delegation visited Afghanistan, pledging support for President Ashraf Ghani’s government, which on Wednesday hosts the
latest in a series of diplomatic meetings aimed at laying the groundwork for a
possible political process involving the Taliban.
Violence has intensified in Afghanistan since U.S. President Donald Trump in August
unveiled a more aggressive strategy, with U.S.-led forces carrying out more air
strikes, and the Taliban responding with bombs, ambushes and raids. The
Taliban, fighting to drive out foreign forces and re-impose its version of
strict Islamic law, said in a statement it had attacked a government army post
overnight on Friday in the western province of Farah. Government officials
confirmed the attack.
A large number of Taliban attacked an army outpost and we lost 18 soldiers and
two were wounded,” said government spokesman Dawlat Waziri. On Saturday a
bomber blew himself up on a road in Kabul near an office of the Afghan
intelligence services, the latest in a spate of attacks in the city in which
hundreds of people have been killed and wounded. Islamic State claimed
responsibility in a message carried by its Amaq news agency. The capital has
been on high alert since a Taliban suicide bomber blew up an explosive-packed
ambulance on a busy street on Jan. 27, killing more than 100 people and
wounding at least 235.
A week earlier, militants had killed more than
20 people, including four Americans, in an attack on one of the city’s top
hotels. The Taliban claimed that attack too.
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