Afghanistan

KABUL, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Unknown gunmen gunned down five employees of the Kabul Attorney General Office outside Kabul city on Monday, Kabul police spokesman Ferdous Faramarz said.

According to Faramarz, unidentified armed men opened fire on a car in Dehsabz area outside Kabul city, killing five including the driver and two prosecutors.

The Attorney General Office in a statement released here confirmed the incident and extended condolences to the victims' families.

It said the culprits behind the scene would be brought to justice.

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants kidnapped about 60 civilians in central Afghanistan over the past week, officials said on Sunday, with more than half still being held amid efforts by the United States and other foreign powers to start peace talks.

The Taliban took the hostages in the central province of Daikundi after a women escaped a Taliban-controlled village in a neighbouring province, according to the provincial deputy governor, Mohammad Ali Uruzgani.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. State Department says COVID-19 infections have been reported at its embassy in the Afghan capital and affected staff include diplomats, contractors and locals.

The State Department did not say how many were affected. An official at the embassy in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, said up to 20 people were infected, the majority of them Nepalese Gurkhas, who provide embassy security.

FIROZ KOAH, Afghanistan, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Seven Afghan policemen were killed in a Taliban militants' attack in the country's western Ghor province Friday night, a local official confirmed Saturday.

The incident happened late on Friday night, when a group of Taliban militants launched a massive attack on a security checkpoint in Abak area of Pasaband district, district chief Fakhruddin Khan told Xinhua.

KABUL/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Talks to end the 18-year-old conflict in Afghanistan may begin this month, sources said on Monday, a day after the U.S. special envoy visited the capital of neighbouring Pakistan and met Taliban leaders in Qatar.

The United States signed a troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban in February, but its attempts to usher the insurgent group towards peace talks with the Afghan government have been mired in setbacks and violence surged in March and April.

FAIZABAD, June 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) – At least 15 fighters, including 11 local police personnel were confirmed dead, as a clash erupted in Khash district of Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan province today, provincial police spokesman, Sanahullah Rohani, said.

The clash flared up after Taliban militants launched massive offensives on several security checkpoints, triggering heavy fighting and both sides suffered, the official added.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghans have taken to social media to denounce Iranian police after a video of a car carrying with Afghan refugees set ablaze in Iran went viral, arousing new anger weeks after Afghan officials accused Iranian border guards of drowning migrants.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday three Afghans were killed and four injured in Iran’s central Yazd province after their vehicle was shot at by Iranian police, triggering the fire.

KABUL, June 2 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and three others were wounded in a bomb explosion in downtown Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed.

"One worshiper was martyred and three wounded after an improvised explosive device detonated in the courtyard of Wazir Akbar Khan mosque at 7:25 p.m. local time," spokesman Tariq Arian told Xinhua.

KABUL, May 30 (Xinhua) -- A journalist and a driver were killed and four others wounded after a bomb hit a local TV channel's bus in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday, an Interior Ministry official confirmed.

"The roadside bomb blast occurred at 4:05 p.m. local time in Police District 4 of the city. The killed along with the wounded were shifted to a hospital shortly after the explosion," Marwa Amini, deputy spokesperson of the ministry, told Xinhua.

28 May 2020; AFP: The US military withdrawal from Afghanistan is considerably ahead of schedule, an official told AFP on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump reiterated calls for the Pentagon to bring troops home.

The developments came as questions loomed over the next phase of Afghanistan's long war following a historic, three-day ceasefire that led to a major drop in civilian casualties.