STR/AFP | Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of a car bomb attack that targeted an intelligence unit in Ghazni on July 7, 2019.

The Taliban carried out a devastating suicide car bombing in central Afghanistan Sunday that killed 12 people and wounded over 150 others, said Afghan officials.

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The attack came as an all-Afghan peace conference, which includes the Taliban, was underway Sunday in Doha in an effort to end the country’s relentless wars.

A provincial council member, Hasan Raza Yousafi, said the car bomb exploded nearby an intelligence department compound in Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name. The dead included eight security personnel, he said.

Many of the wounded were students of a nearby high school, said the provincial health department chief, Zahir Shah Nekmal. He said most of the injured suffered cuts and abrasions from broken glass.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, saying the target was the intelligence service’s compound in Ghazni. He said the bombing killed tens of intelligence employees. The Taliban often exaggerate such claims.

As a result of today's explosion in #Ghazni province, that targeted #NDS center today, 183 people, mostly civilians including children, were wounded, and 12 people were killed, #Taliban took the responsibility. pic.twitter.com/52CIIB3D1Y Pajhwok Afghan News (@pajhwok) July 7, 2019

Meanwhile, US Peace Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad hailed the intra-Afghan talks underway in Doha as a good first step toward substantive negotiations between Afghans on a framework for the country’s future.

He said Washington’s “aspiration” is to have that framework in place by Sept. 1 and ahead of the Afghan presidential election.

Khalilzad, who has been holding direct talks with the Taliban for the past six days also in Doha, told a press briefing on Saturday that included The Associated Press that the discussions were the most productive ever.

He will resume talks with the Taliban on Tuesday, he said.

Talks have covered a timeframe for the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan, verifiable anti-terror guarantees from the Taliban, intra-Afghan negotiations and an eventual cease-fire.

Meanwhile in western Ghor province, a roadside mine killed seven children Saturday. The youngest was just 5 years old.

Abdul Hai Khateby, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the Taliban planted the mine apparently to thwart a planned Afghan military offensive to retake nearby areas under the militants’ control. The children were local shepherds who happened to be moving their herd along the road when the mine exploded, he said.

(AP)

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