Afghan army
Taliban kill 26 pro-govt militia members in Afghanistan
Taliban militants killed at least 26 members of a pro-government militia in north Afghanistan on Saturday.
The aircraft crashed due to 'bad weather' in Anar Dara district, which borders Iran, Farah provincial governor spokesman Nasir Mehri said.
Members of parliament opposing Ghani’s move said he had not consulted politicians and would be left with no recourse if the Taliban rejected his impromptu request.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack. Afghanistan also faces insurgencies from Islamic State and the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo strongly condemned the “senseless and barbaric” bombings in Kabul.
Spokesman for the interior ministry Najib Danish said the suicide bomber appeared to have posed as a journalist and blew himself up where reporters and emergency health officials were standing.
President Ghani issued a statement condemning the attack and said it “cannot divert us from our aims or weaken this national democratic process”.
The attack follows several weeks of relative quiet in Kabul and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said all those killed and wounded in the explosion were civilians with no casualties among the contractors.
The attacks have toughened both the US and Afghan governments’ stand against initiating talks with the insurgents, although neither side seems capable of winning the conflict.
The coalition said on Tuesday that the Taliban contested or controlled only 44% of Afghan districts as of October 2017.
Two of the attackers blew themselves up, two were killed in fighting and one was captured, the ministry said in a statement announcing that the fighting was over.
Russia called for urgent talks between the government in Afghanistan and the Taliban, its Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding Russia could host such talks.
Islamic State, which has claimed a series of attacks in Kabul over the past two years, issued a statement on its Amaq news agency saying it was responsible.
Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the blast hit people gathered for the funeral of a former district governor.
The Afshar area of Kabul where the attack was under way is close to a facility of the National Directorate of Security.
IS in Jawzjan has now attracted the attention of US forces in Afghanistan, which will launch an offensive in the north in the next few days.
Those rescued in the raid in Helmand’s Nawzad district included four children under the age of 12 and two policemen, the officials said.
Government forces killed 45 insurgents and wounded 35 and none of the police checkpoints was captured in the overnight attacks, officials said.