KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 9 (UPI) — At least 29 pro-government Arbakis militia members were killed in Afghanistan‘s Kunduz province by a Taliban suicide car bomb attack on Saturday.
The attack in the Khanabad district was a “heinous act,” the Afghan interior ministry said. Four militia commanders are believed to be among those killed. About 15 others were wounded in the attack.
The interior ministry said those killed were civilians, but local officials, including the spokesman for the governor of Kunduz, Abdul Wadood Wahidi, as well as the Taliban, said the dead were pro-government militia members.
The Taliban stepped up attacks as the militant Islamist group is facing a leadership crisis escalated by the confirmation of the death of the Taliban’s former leader, Mullah Omar, about two weeks ago.
More than 50 people were killed in attacks on Friday.
Key figures in the Taliban are also divided on whether they should seek peace with the Afghan government and how they should go about possibly ending the 14-year war.
A meeting of Taliban and Afghan officials, in what would have been considered the first step in a peace process, was scheduled for Friday in Pakistan but was delayed by the report of Omar’s death.
