Suicide bomber kills 11 in eastern Afghanistan

AFP  |  Jalalabad 

A suicide bomber targeted a police checkpoint Thursday in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 13 others, an said.

There was at least one child among the fatalities, while three others were wounded.

The area around is home to fighters from both the and the IS group's Afghan affiliate.

Last month, three blasts in rapid succession in the center of left three people dead and 20 wounded.

Until then, this city near the border with had largely been spared from attacks and fighting, mainly with IS, in far-flung parts of the surrounding province.

However, in March, at least 16 civilians were killed in a suicide bombing followed by gunfire targeting a construction company near the city's airport.

The said they were not behind that attack.

A wave of violence across in recent weeks has claimed the lives of dozens of civilians and security forces.

After 18 years of conflict, the are in negotiations with US for some sort of peace settlement.

A resolution still seems far off, with the two sides struggling to agree on several key points.

Khalilzad is in the country now meeting with political leaders and members of in the hope of launching intra-Afghan talks with the Taliban.

The EU for Afghanistan, Roland Kobia, is also here to support the process.

In a gesture of goodwill, the government announced Thursday it has released 490 Taliban prisoners who are ill or have less than a year left to serve.

They are among 887 prisoners that promised to free in early June as he marked the end of Ramadan.

Khalilzad is due to travel to in coming days for a new round of talks with the Taliban.

The goal of the negotiations is to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops in exchange for a Taliban pledge to keep the country from being used as a staging ground for terror attacks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, June 14 2019. 00:45 IST