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AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT
Eight killed in attack targeting Afghan governor
JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Oct 5, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A suicide attack targeting
an Afghan provincial governor killed at least eight people on Monday,
officials said, as the president travelled to Qatar where peace talks with
the Taliban have stalled.
Twenty eight people were wounded when the attacker rammed his explosives-
filled vehicle into the convoy of Rahmatullah Yarmal, the governor of eastern
Laghman province.
“The governor was driving to his office when his car was hit. Four of his
bodyguards and four civilians were killed, 28 wounded,” the governor’s
spokesman Assadullah Daulatzai told AFP, adding that the governor was unhurt.
Interior ministry spokesman Tareq Arian confirmed the attack and said most
of the wounded were civilians.
It comes as President Ashraf Ghani on Monday left for Doha to meet with
Qatari officials, three weeks after the launch of landmark peace talks
between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Ghani will first stop in Kuwait to offer condolences over the death of
emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, his spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.
Talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government negotiators, aimed at
ending Afghanistan’s 19-year conflict, have stalled over disagreements on how
to frame a code of conduct that will guide the broader talks.
The Taliban, who are Sunni hardliners, are insisting on adherence to the
Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, but the government negotiators
say this could be used to discriminate against Hazaras, who are predominantly
Shia, and other minorities in the country.
Another contentious topic is how the US-Taliban deal will shape a future
peace deal and how it will be referred to.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the Laghman attack, but the
Taliban are active in the region.
On Saturday, a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle full of explosives at
the entrance an administrative building in eastern Nangarhar province,
killing 15 people, mostly civilians, officials said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1630 hrs