ZCZC
BFF-27
AFGHANISTAN-UNREST
Suicide attack on Afghan police bus kills five: officials
KABUL, Oct 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A suicide car bomb attack on a bus carrying
police officers and workers in central Afghanistan killed at least five
people Saturday, officials said.
Another 12 were wounded in the Taliban-claimed blast in the Wardak
provincial capital of Maidan Shar, provincial police spokesman Hekmatullah
Durrani told AFP.
The explosion happened as the bus entered the main entrance of a police
compound. Two officers and three workers were among the dead, Durrani said.
The wounded were all mechanics on the base.
Provincial governor spokesman Abdul Rahman Mangal put the death toll
slightly higher at six.
In a WhatsApp message, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said “tens of
Afghan police and soldiers were killed” in the attack.
The latest attack by the Taliban comes amid a flurry of US-led diplomatic
activity to convince the group to negotiate an end to the 17-year war.
In an apparent move to aid talks, top Taliban commander Abdul Ghani Baradar
has been released by Pakistan after more than eight years in detention,
sources said Thursday.
That came less than two weeks after US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met with the
Taliban’s representatives in Qatar to discuss ending the Afghan conflict.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1322 hrs