MAZAR SHARIF: A suicide bomber killed 15 people, including women and children, on Wednesday when he blew himself up in a northern Afghan market, as militants intensify their annual summer offensive despite nascent peace talks.

The attack in Almar district of Faryab province, bordering Turkmenistan, highlights the heavy toll of such attacks on civilians after 13 years of war.

No group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, which comes just before another round of peace negotiations between the government and Taliban militants are due to start.

“This morning a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest in a market in Almar,” Faryab governor Abdul Sattar Barez said.

“Our information shows at least 15 people were killed in the attack, including women and children and at least one Afghan army soldier,” he said, adding that around 38 others were wounded.

Almar district chief Saleh Mohammad Saleh confirmed the death toll, adding that condition of some of the wounded was critical.

“We had received intelligence report that a suicide attacker has entered the market in Almar, so we set up a police checkpoint to search for him,” local police commmander Saif, who goes by one name, said.

“We were looking for him when he blew himself up near an armoured military vehicle,” Mr Saif said, adding that the attacker was aged between 20 and 25.

Taliban insurgents, who launched their annual summer offensive in late April, have stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets despite official efforts to jumpstart peace talks.

Civilians often fall victim to such attacks, with almost 1,000 Afghan civilians killed during the first four months of the year, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan.

President Ashraf Ghani’s government has drawn criticism for failing to end the spike in violence, which critics partly blame on the protracted delay in the appointment of a defence minister.

The crucial post has not been filled since Mr Ghani came to power last September.

US-led Nato forces ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in December, leaving local forces to battle the Taliban alone, but a 13,000-strong residual force remains for training and counterterrorism operations.

Afghan officials sat down with Taliban cadres this month in Murree for their first face-to-face talks aimed at ending the bloody insurgency.

They agreed to meet again in the coming weeks, drawing praise from Islamabad, Beijing, Washington and the United Nations.

Afghan officials have not said when and where the next round of negotiations will take place, but they are widely expected to be conducted in the coming days.

Earlier this month, 33 people were killed in a suicide attack at a military base in the eastern province of Khost and a few days later 25 civilians were wounded in a bombing inside a mosque in northern Baghlan province.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2015

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