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Taliban claims responsibility for attack on rival militia

August 9, 2015

A lethal suicide attack killed at least 22 members of an illegal armed group - including four commanders - in Kunduz province. The bombing follows a wave of attacks that killed more than 50 in the capital, Kabul.

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Image: Getty Images/AFP/Str

A suicide bomber in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province targeted a meeting of militia that have in the past clashed with both the Taliban and national security forces, Abdul Wadood Wahidi, a spokesman for Kunduz province's governor, said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, which officials say wounded at least 10 civilians and left 22 members of the armed group dead.

"The incident took place (when) a suicide bomber detonated his suicide vest in Khanabad district," Afghanistan's interior ministry said, strongly condemning the "heinous act."

Taliban on the offensive

Kunduz is a volatile province where the Taliban recently came close to overrunning the capital city, in the most alarming threat to any administrative capital since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

US-led NATO forces ended their combat mission last year, although a 13,000-strong residual force remains for training Afghanistan's state security forces.

But a wave of attacks targeting security forces killed at least 51 people Friday - evidence that the Taliban is again on the offensive. A faltering peace process and the potency of the Taliban insurgency, despite being riven by internal divisions, underscores deteriorating stability in the country despite a multi-billion dollar US-led effort to develop self-reliant Afghan forces.

A resurgent Taliban

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country since NATO's departure and the extremist religious militia has taken hold in rural provinces.

Authorities in the northern Badakhshan province say Taliban militiamen hanged a 27-year-old mother of three after accusing her of having extramarital sex. A government spokesman said she was hanged from a tree before a public gathering early Saturday.

Afghan forces and allies engage Taliban

In separate incidents, Taliban insurgents beheaded two local policemen and a civilian Saturday in Badakhshan. The victims had been accused of spying. And in the eastern Nangarhar province, a drone strike carried out by Afghan forces killed 15 suspected insurgents and wounded nine others on Saturday, according to a provincial police chief.

Meanwhile, a separate airstrike carried out by international forces Saturday killed at least 10 suspected insurgents. Authorities said a major operation is underway in Nangarhar aimed at driving the Taliban out of three districts.

jar/jlw (AFP, AP)