KABUL: Nine people, including two suicide bombers, were killed and five others wounded in separate explosions in Afghanistan during Tuesday night and early Wednesday, authorities said Wednesday.
In eastern Kapisa province, three civilians, including one woman, were killed after a vehicle they were traveling touched off a Taliban militants’ Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Khisha Chena, an area in Tagab district at about 6:15 a.m. local time.
Provincial police spokesman Shayiq Shurish told media that the vehicle was destroyed in the explosion, and police would notify the victims’ relative soon.
In southern Helmand province, four Afghan army soldiers and an assailant were killed after a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint with a car bomb in Yakhchal locality of Nahri Sarraj district roughly at 10:00 p.m. local time Tuesday, local government spokesman Omar Zwak told media.
Three soldiers were wounded in the blast.
In neighboring Kandahar province, a Taliban suicide bomber tried to assault an Afghan Border Force checkpoint in Maruf district, but soldiers manning the facility identified and fired on the vehicle, killing the attacker.
Two border force members were wounded after the explosive-laden car exploded following the shooting, according to an army source in the province.
Violence lingers in the war-torn country even as peace talks between the Afghan government delegation and Taliban representatives are being held in Doha, capital of Gulf state of Qatar.
The Taliban militants have been trying to overrun small towns or districts across Afghanistan and consolidate their position, launching hit-and-run ambushes against security forces.
Meanwhile, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has arrived in Qatar for a bilateral meeting with the leaders of the Gulf state but will not hold talks with Taliban representatives even as peace talks are under way in the country’s capital city, Doha, according to officials.
Negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban that started last month are aimed at the warring sides agreeing to a reduction of violence and a possible new power-sharing agreement.
So far, there has been no progress as the two sides have become bogged down on processes and procedures, according to diplomatic sources. The intra-Afghan talks are part of a landmark deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February.–Agencies
