KABUL, Dec 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Taliban outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that rocked Nad Ali district, in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, which left eight soldiers dead.
Sohail Shaheen, the spokesman for Taliban’s liaison office in Qatar, according to media reports, wrote in his twitter account, “Talks between the U.S. and Afghanistan resumed Saturday, from where the discussions were left off” and would continue.
Both the U.S. and the Taliban outfit were near to ink a peace deal in Sept, but President Donald Trump suspended the negotiation after a Taliban-led car bomb claimed 10 lives, including a U.S. soldier in Kabul.
In a suicide bombing that targeted an Afghan army checkpoint in Nad Ali, according to a local official, eight soldiers were killed and two others missing.
Zabihullah Majahid, who speaks for the Taliban outfit, claimed responsibility and said, a suicide bomber exploded his “explosive-laden truck inside the combined base of commandos and troops, in Zerh Pul area of Nad Ali district, killing 52 security personnel and injuring several others.”
Analysts believe that the militant group would intensify activities against government interests to secure the upper hand at any possible direct talks with Afghan government for achieving peace in the conflict-stricken country.
Fighting intensified in Afghanistan recently, as more than 40 fighters, including 11 security personnel, according to security officials, have been killed in the country over the past 24 hours.– NNN-AGENCIES