Afghan officials said Sunday that at least 34 people were killed in two separate suicide bombings that targeted a military base and a provincial chief.
In eastern Ghazni province, 31 soldiers were killed and 24 others injured when the attacker drove a military Humvee filled with explosives into an army command base before detonating the car bomb, according to an Afghan National Security Council official. He spoke anonymously because he was not allowed to speak directly to the media.
The attack was also confirmed by Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian, although he did not provide details on the victims.
In southern Afghanistan, a suicide car bomb attacked the convoy of a provincial council chief in Zubal, killing at least three people and wounding 12 others, including children.
The head of the provincial council, Attajan Haqbayat, survived Sunday’s attack with minor injuries, although one of his bodyguards was among the dead, provincial police spokesman Hikmatullah Kochai said.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks.
The attacks come as representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban hold face-to-face talks in Qatar for the first time to end the decades-long war in the country.
This year there has been a sharp increase in violence and a wave of attacks by the Taliban against embattled Afghan security forces since the beginning of the peace talks in September. There have also been deadly attacks this month claimed by Islamic State militants in Afghanistan, including a horrific attack on Kabul University that killed 22 people, most of them students.
Meanwhile, the United States plans to withdraw another 2,500 soldiers by mid-January, leaving about 2,000 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of America’s longest war. Afghan officials, however, have expressed concern that a rapid reduction in US troops could strengthen the Taliban’s bargaining hand.
The United States has in recent weeks been pushing for a reduction in violence, while the Afghan government has been demanding a ceasefire. The Taliban have refused, saying a ceasefire will be part of the negotiations, though the group has kept its promise not to attack US and NATO troops.
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