A wave of Taliban attacks and violence has killed dozens across Afghanistan, even as talks are underway between the government and the insurgents in Qatar, officials said Tuesday.
A statement from the defense ministry said four army soldiers were killed late Monday night in Taliban attacks on checkpoints in Kunduz province.
According to the ministry, 15 Taliban fighters were also killed and 12 were wounded. The details were impossible to independently verify as Kunduz is off limits to journalists and the Taliban hold sway across most of the province's rural areas.
However, Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a provincial council member in Kunduz, gave a significantly higher casualty toll. At least 25 members of the security forces were killed by the Taliban in separate attacks in the Dasht-e-Archi district, including 13 soldiers and four policemen, he said.
At least eight other soldiers were killed near Kunduz city, the provincial capital, he said. Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the insurgents were behind all the attacks. The Taliban were able to seize weapons and ammunition from the checkpoints, he said.
Meanwhile, in southern Helmand province, Abdul Zahir Haqyar, administration chief in Washer’s district, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen on Monday night, said Abdul Nabi Elham, the provincial governor of Helmand.
Two of Haqyar’s bodyguards were wounded in the shooting. No one immediately claimed responsibility for that attack.
Separately, in southern Urozgan province, at least 10 people, including women and children, were wounded, when a sticky bomb placed on a motorcycle exploded, according to the provincial governor, Mohammad Omar Sherzad.
A private car belonging to police officers was the target of the explosion, he said.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks in the capital of Kabul in recent months, including on educational institutions that killed 50 people, most of them students. IS has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks in December targeting the major U.S. base in Afghanistan. There were no casualties.
Taliban representatives and the Afghan government earlier this month resumed peace talks in Qatar, the Gulf Arab state where the insurgents maintain an office. The stop-and-go talks are aimed at ending decades of conflict. Frustration and fear have grown over the recent spike in violence, and both sides blame one another.
There has also been growing doubt lately over a U.S.-Taliban deal brokered by the outgoing Trump administration. That accord was signed last February. Under the deal, an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. troops ordered by Trump means that just 2,500 American soldiers will still be in Afghanistan when President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano spewed more hot clouds on Wednesday after an eruption the previous day forced the closure of schools and airports, pelted villages with volcanic debris and prompted hundreds of people to flee.
Seven airports, including Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi province, remained closed after Tuesday's eruption, the second in two weeks. Schools were shut to protect children from volcanic ash.
The volcano is on tiny Ruang Island, part of the Sitaro islands chain.
The Indonesian geological agency urged people to stay at least 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the volcano’s crater. It warned people on nearby Tagulandang Island, the closest to the volcano, of possible super-heated volcanic clouds from a further eruption and a tsunami if the mountain's volcanic dome collapses into the sea.
Video released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed about a hundred villagers from Tagulandang Island being evacuated on a navy ship. Hundreds of others were waiting at a local port to be evacuated.
Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said 11,000 to 12,000 people living within a 7-kilometer danger zone would be taken to government shelters.
Tuesday’s eruption darkened the sky and peppered several villages with ash, grit and rocks. No casualties were reported.
After Mount Ruang's April 17 eruption, authorities warned that a subsequent eruption might collapse part of the volcano into the sea.
Ruang is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The archipelagic nation is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a series of fault lines stretching from the western coast of the Americas through Japan and Southeast Asia.
In this photo released by the Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Ruang releases volcanic materials during its eruption on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris. (PVMBG via AP Photo)
In this photo provided by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), residents of Tagulandang island sit on a ship of National Search and Rescue Agency to evacuate after Mount Ruang releases volcanic materials in Sulawesi island, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris.(Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency via AP)
In this photo released by the Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Ruang releases volcanic materials during its eruption, Tuesday, April 30, 2024, on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris. (PVMBG via AP Photo)
Mount Ruang volcano is seen during the eruption from Tagulandang island, Indonesia, Wednesday, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Indonesia's Mount Ruang volcano erupted Tuesday for a second time in two weeks, spewing ash almost 2 kilometers (more than a mile) into the sky, closing an airport and peppering nearby villages with debris.(AP Photo/ Hendra Ambalao)
