30 AFGHAN FARM WORKERS KILLED IN US STRIKE

JALALABAD/KABUL: A US drone strike intended to hit an Islamic State (IS) hideout in Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians resting after a day’s labour in the fields, officials said on Thursday.

The attack on Wednesday night also injured another 40 people after accidentally targeting farmers and labourers who had just finished collecting pine nuts at Wazir Tangi in eastern Nangarhar province.

“The workers had lit a bonfire when a drone targeted them,” tribal elder Malik Rahat Gul said. Afghanistan’s defence ministry and a senior US official in Kabul confirmed the drone strike, but did not share details of civilian casualties. “US forces conducted a drone strike against Da’esh (IS) terrorists in Nangarhar,” said Colonel Sonny Leggett, a spokesman for US forces in Afghanistan. “We are aware of allegations of the death of noncombatants and are working with local officials to determine the facts.”

TALIBAN ATTACK KILLS 20, FLATTENS HOSPITAL

A Taliban truck bomb killed at least 20 people and wounded 95 when it exploded near a hospital in southern Afghanistan on Thursday. Casualties were expected to rise as rescuers cleared the rubble.

The Taliban, who have been carrying out nearly daily attacks since the collapse of peace talks with the US this month, said the target was a nearby building of the government’s intelligence department in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province.

The militants wanted to target a training base for Afghanistan’s powerful national directorate of security. AGENCIES