Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The latest on a suicide bombing inside a crowded wedding hall in Afghanistan’s capital (all times local):

2:45 a.m.

A witness to a suicide bombing at a wedding party in Afghanistan’s capital says the attacker set off the explosives near the stage where children had gathered.

Gul Mohammad tells The Associated Press that everyone gathered there was killed. Another witness, Mohammad Toofan, says that “a lot of guests were martyred.”

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The death toll from a late-night suicide bombing at a crowded wedding party in the Afghan capital rose to at least 63 on Sunday, including women and children, officials said. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul this year.

Another 182 civilians were wounded in the Saturday night explosion, government spokesman Feroz Bashari said. Interior Ministry spokesman Nusrat Rahimi confirmed the casualty toll as families began to bury the dead. Some helped to dig graves with their bare hands.

11 August 2019; DW: Afghanistan's president has said peace is only possible with an agreement between Afghanistan and the Taliban. His remarks come amid US efforts to finalize a peace deal with the Taliban.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said he did not want foreign nations to interfere in the country's affairs, as the United States and the Taliban appear near to closing a peace deal without the government's input.

KABUL, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Casualties were feared in clashes between security forces and a terrorist gang near Kabul airport on early Wednesday, a source and witnesses said.

"Afghan Special Operation Forces launched a raid to hunt down an Islamic State (IS) terror network in Qasaba neighborhood at wee hours of Wednesday. During the mission, the security forces received hostile fire and engaged with the armed terrorists," the source who declined to be named told Xinhua.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug 3 (NNN-XINHUA) – Three Taliban local leaders, including an insurgents’ shadow provincial governor, have been killed in an air strike, in Afghanistan’s western Farah province, Afghan Defence Ministry said today (Saturday).

Mullah Abdul Bari, shadow Taliban governor for Farah, was killed, together with Mullah Saddiq and Mawlawi Sayyed, following a sortie in Khaki Safed district, Friday night, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement did not detail whether the strike was conducted by Afghan Air Force or NATO-led coalition forces.

01 August 2019; DW: Violent attacks in Afghanistan have continued despite ongoing peace talks between the Taliban and the US in Qatar. Is the international engagement with the Taliban actually emboldening Islamist militants?

At least 34 Afghan civilians lost their lives in a bomb attack on Wednesday. Most of the victims were women and children, according to Afghan authorities.

31 July 2019; DW: Afghan officials have accused the Taliban of planting a roadside bomb in the western province of Farah. Civilians often take the brunt of fighting between insurgents and pro-government forces.

A "Taliban roadside bomb" on Wednesday killed at least 34 people, mostly women and children, Afghan authorities said.

Insurgents, such as the Taliban militant group, regularly target pro-government forces but civilians often take the brunt of attacks.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — More civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants, the U.N. mission said in a report released Tuesday.

The report apparently refers to civilians killed during Afghan and U.S. military operations against insurgents, such as airstrikes and night raids on militant hideouts. Insurgents often hide among civilians.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The death toll from an attack against the Kabul office of the Afghan president’s running mate and former chief of the intelligence service climbed to at least 20 people on Monday, an official said.

Around 50 other people were wounded in Sunday’s attack against the Green Trend party headquarters, which lasted hours and included a gunbattle between security forces and the attackers, who were holed up inside the building, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.

Several gunmen were killed by the security forces, Rahimi said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The political office of the Afghan president’s running mate was hit by a large explosion and stormed by several gunmen who remained holed up inside, Afghan officials said Sunday. The attack in the capital, Kabul, killed at least two people and came on the first day of campaigning for presidential elections, scheduled for late September.

Vice-presidential candidate and former intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh was “evacuated from the building and moved to a safe location,” said Nasrat Rahimi, the interior ministry spokesman.