Taliban kill four survivors of Afghanistan flash floods

KABUL: Taliban fighters killed four civilians on Thursday during clashes with Afghan forces in the central province of Parwan, amid rescue work after flash floods claimed more than 150 lives, officials said.

It was the latest violence amid peace talks between the warring sides that have been delayed over the issue of prisoner releases, as part of efforts to end the US-led war in Afghanistan, which has spanned nearly two decades. “Taliban fighters opened fire on civilians fleeing areas worst hit by the flash floods,” said Abdul Shukoor Qudoosi, a district official in Bagram, home to the country’s biggest US military base and the site of the clashes.

“Taliban were clashing with Afghan forces and they killed civilians who were in an auto-rickshaw near an army checkpoint,” Qudoosi said, adding that it appeared as if the Islamist militants mistook the passengers for Afghan soldiers.

One Afghan soldier was killed and two were injured. A Taliban spokesmen was not immediately available to comment. The death toll from the floods rose to 150, with at least 250 people injured, as survivors and rescue workers sifted the debris of more than 1,500 homes destroyed to the north of the capital, Kabul.