Eight killed in suicide attack targeting Afghan governor

JALALABAD: 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 said, 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.

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. 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.