14 killed as mortars hit Afghan market

KABUL: At least 14 people were killed and dozens more wounded when a busy market in northern Afghanistan was hit by mortar fire, officials said Saturday.

Several Taliban shells hit the market Friday morning in the Khwaja Sabz Posh district of Faryab province, according to Hanif Rezaee, an Afghan army spokesman. “Fourteen civilians were killed and 40 — including women and children — were wounded,” Rezaee told AFP.

He said the Taliban had been trying to hit an army checkpoint near the market. The insurgent group did not immediately comment.

Naem Musamim, Faryab´s public health director, said 14 bodies and 39 wounded people including four children had been taken to local hospitals. Some victims with critical injuries were airlifted to hospitals in Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province. Also Friday, a bomb detonated inside a Shia mosque in Ghazni city in central Afghanistan, killing two worshippers and wounding 20 more, according to Ghazni governor spokesman Aref Noori.

Baz Mohammad Hemat, the director of Ghazni hospital, told AFP that one of those killed and 14 of the wounded were children. Friday is Afghanistan´s day off and many children attend mosque for prayers on the day of worship. The Islamic State group´s Afghanistan affiliate, which has a growing footprint in the country, claimed responsibility.

The Sunni extremists have conducted frequent prior attacks on Shia targets. While Afghanistan is a mainly Sunni country, it has a sizeable Shia minority, mainly represented by the Hazara community. The deadly incidents come as the war between the Taliban and Afghan security forces rages on, even as Taliban officials are meeting with US negotiators in Doha in a bid to bring about an end to the conflict. An agreement with the Taliban is expected to have two main points — a US withdrawal from Afghanistan and a commitment by the militants not to provide a base for terrorists, the main reason for the US invasion nearly 18 years ago. On Sunday, the insurgents will meet in the Qatari capital with various representatives from Afghan society as part of a potential peace process.

US says latest Taliban talks ‘most productive’ so far: The seventh round of peace talks between the United States and Afghanistan´s Taliban that are ongoing in Qatar are the “most productive” so far, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said Saturday. “These six days have been the most productive of the rounds we´ve had with the Talibs... we made progress on all the issues that we have been discussing,” Khalilzad said in Qatar. The insurgents have been meeting with the US envoy in Doha to try to forge a deal that would see the US military quit Afghanistan in return for various guarantees.

Suhail Shaheen, the spokesman for the Taliban´s office in Qatar, said they were pleased with the discussions so far. “We are happy with progress and hope the rest of the work is also done. We have not faced any obstacles yet,” he tweeted. But the talks are set to be paused for two days while another summit with Afghan representatives takes place in Qatar´s capital. “Tomorrow and the day after, because of the intra-Afghan conference, no talks will take place,” Shaheen said. US envoy Khalilzad confirmed direct US-Taliban talks will restart on Tuesday.

About 60 Afghan delegates are expected to attend Sunday´s so-called intra-Afghan dialogue, including political figures, women and various Afghan stakeholders.

The Taliban, who have steadfastly refused to negotiate with the government of President Ashraf Ghani, have stressed that those attending the talks planned for Sunday and Monday will only do so in a “personal capacity”.

But the US has made it clear the Taliban must talk with the Afghan government before a peace deal can be completed. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said he hopes for an agreement before September 1.