Bombs claim civilian lives in Kabul, policemen wounded

More than 20 civilians, including women, have been killed in bomb attacks carried out in Afghanistan’s capital.

A roadside bomb hit a passenger bus in the morning in Kabul on Saturday.

The bus was en route to the eastern city of Ghazni.

The spokesman for Ghazni governor, Waheedullah Jumazada, said nine civilians, including three women, were killed in the explosion.

Adam Khan Seerat, the Ghazni police spokesman, said four policemen were also wounded in the attack, which he blamed on the Taliban.

In another incident in Kabul, at least 13 people were killed when a bomber blew himself up at an education center.

Health Ministry spokesman Saeed Jami said authorities had recovered 13 bodies and transferred 30 injured people to hospital.

The Taliban have denied responsibility for the attack on the education center. The militant group has made no comment on the roadside bombing.

Taliban kill at least 25 Afghan security forces in ambush

At least 25 Afghan security personnel are killed in an ambush blamed on Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Takhar.

In the meantime, the government and the militants are engaged in intra-Afghan talks in Qatar in an effort to end nearly two decades of war in the country.

The first round of talks began last month in the wake of a deal reached between the United States and the Taliban earlier this year in Doha.

Under the deal, Washington promised to pull out all its troops by mid-2021 in return for the Taliban to stop their attacks on US-led occupation foreign forces in Afghanistan.

The Afghan government was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal, but it has been acting in accordance with its terms, including by agreeing to free the Taliban prisoners.

Official data, however, shows that Taliban bombings and other assaults have increased 70 percent since the militant group reached a deal with Washington.

Peace still remote in Afghanistan amid surge in Taliban attacks

Intra-Afghan talks, dragging on in Qatar, have so far failed to prove fruitful.

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