Taliban fighters killed during bomb-training blast
THIRTY Taliban militants were killed when a bomb went off while they were having bomb-making training in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday, although the Taliban disputed that any people had died.
According to the ministry, six of those killed in the explosion at a mosque in Dawlat Abad district were foreign nationals. It added however that the victims were not recognisable due to the severity of their injuries.
Taliban spokesman abihullah Mujahid confirmed the explosion but said that it had happened in an empty room and caused no casualties.
Car bombs and roadside bombs are the Taliban’s weapons of choice.
The militants killed at least
five policemen and wounded 12 others in two separate bomb attacks in the country.
Twelve policemen were wounded when a Taliban suicide attacker detonated a car bomb near a security checkpoint
in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province this morning, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said that the attacker was identified and targeted before
he could reach the checkpoint in Arghandab district.
Elsewhere, five policemen were killed in a roadside bomb attack overnight in Chapa Dara district of eastern Kunar province, provincial councillor Mohammad Sapai told dpa on
Saturday.
Deadly attacks continue in Afghanistan despite peace talks between the internationally-backed Afghan government and Taliban militants.
The Islamic State also regularly carries out attacks.