Officials:

Roadside bomb blast kills 10 people in Afghanistan’s Ghazni

At least ten people, including four women and a child, have lost their lives when a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Ghazni, officials say.

News ID: 448009

Date: 15 December 2019 - 11:14

RNA - According to Ghazni provincial governor spokesman Aref Noori on Saturday, the deadly explosion occurred in the volatile district of Jaghatu on Friday evening.

“Unfortunately, in the explosion 10 people, including four women and a child, were killed,” he said, adding that all the victims were civilians and that the blast also wounded six others.

Separately, Marwa Amini, deputy spokeswoman for the interior ministry in capital Kabul, confirmed the bomb explosion and the death toll.

No individual or group has yet claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, but it bears all the hallmarks of the Taliban.

The militants often plant roadside bombs and landmines to target Afghan security forces, however, the deadly weapons also inflict heavy casualties on civilians.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time. But US forces have remained bogged down there through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.

Some 18 years on, Washington is seeking a truce with the militants, who still control large swathes of territory.

US President Donald Trump ended yearlong talks with the Taliban in September, when an agreement appeared imminent that could end America's longest war.

He said at the time that the decision to end the talks was in response to a deadly bomb attack by the militants that killed 12 people in Kabul on September 5, including an American soldier. However, the US-Taliban’s on-and-off talks began to resume later on.

The Friday attack came hours after Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen announced that the group’s leaders had held “positive talks” with a US delegation, led by Zalmay Khalilzad, in the Qatari capital Doha, adding that the two sides planned to resume talks after a few days.

The Taliban, which now controls or has influence in about half of Afghanistan’s territory, has so far rejected the proposal to lay down arms and instead called on the US to end the use of force in Afghanistan. It also insists that talks cannot move ahead until foreign forces leave the country.

Nearly 20,000 foreign troops, most of them Americans, are currently deployed in Afghanistan as part of a mission to purportedly train, assist, and advise Afghan security forces.

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