Afghan Taliban attacks intensify as US peace envoy returns

GHAZNI AFP Nov11, 2018   
The Taliban intensified attacks in a district heavily populated by minority Hazaras Sunday, as US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad returned to the region as part of efforts to convince the group to end the 17-year war.   

In pre-dawn fighting in Jaghori district in the southeastern province of Ghazni, militants killed 15 civilians and 10 members of Afghanistan’s elite special forces, provincial police spokesman Ahmad Khan Sirat told AFP.   

Another six special forces and eight civilians were wounded, Sirat added.   

The information could not be immediately verified by another source in the province where telecommunications are poor. A spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry in Kabul would not answer his phone.   

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a WhatsApp message that 22 Afghan commandos had been killed and “a large number” wounded.   

Fighting in the district has been ongoing since Wednesday, fanning fears that the violence could be rooted in ethnic or sectarian differences.