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Five killed as UN convoy in Afghanistan attacked by gunmen

WION Web Team
KABULUpdated: Feb 11, 2021, 11:02 PM IST
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(Representative Image) Photograph:(Twitter)

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Unknown gunmen attacked a United Nations convoy on the outskirts of Afghanistan`s capital on Thursday, killing five Afghan security force members who were escorting the international agency`s vehicles, the U.N. and officials said.

Five Afghan security force members who were escorting the international agency's vehicles have been killed in an attack on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway in Surobi District of Kabul on Thursday.

According to an Afghan interior ministry official, the insurgent Taliban were behind it.

Condemning the incident, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that no UN personnel were hurt or vehicle effected in an attack which hit a DPS vehicle that was escorting a UN convoy. 

Attacks on international forces and foreign players have been rare since the Taliban signed a troop withdrawal deal with Washington almost a year ago.

However, violence against Afghans has escalated around the nation even as the Taliban and the Afghan government hold peace talks in Qatar.

On Thursday, three back-to-back blasts in eastern Kunar province left three people dead and two injured, according to a police spokesman.

At least two people were killed and five others injured in three separate blasts in eastern Nangarhar province, local officials said.

Unknown gunmen shot and injured Qotbuddin Kohi, a journalist working for Pajhwok News agency in northern Faryab province on Thursday, according to the media outlet`s director.

Almost daily deadly attacks with small, magnetic bombs attached to the undercarriages of vehicles, as well as roadside explosive devices and shootings, are unnerving Afghan officials, activists and journalists.

Officials say that peace talks have largely stalled as the violence rises and U.S. President Joe Biden`s administration reviews how to handle the peace process.

(With inputs from agencies)