Rocket attacks in Kabul kills eight and leaves several wounded

A barrage of rocket attacks in residential areas in Kabulon Saturday, killed at least eight and wounded more than 30 people, according to Afghan officials. 

The interior ministry reported that over a dozen rockets were launched from a pickup truck inside the city which the regional Islamic State group confessed to organising. 

The Islamic State group has been behind other attacks that have happened recently in Kabul., including two assaults on education institutions that killed nearly 50 people. 

The attack happened hours before a meeting between the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Taliban negotiators in an effort to resume peace talks. 

Mr Pompeo met representatives from the Taliban and the Afghan government in the capital, Doha, amid suggestions that the US and the militant group were close to breaking a deadlock in peace negotiations. 

Afghanistan’s chief peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah said Afghans still wanted a ceasefire but said that delegation had been “advised to be flexible."

Mr Abdullah also said that the Trump administration’s announcement to reduce the number of American troops in the country from 4,500 to 2,500 by next year, per an agreement signed by the US and the Taliban in February this year, was premature and said the move would have “some impact” but clarified, “Of course we would have preferred it differently.”

The rockets hit areas of central and north Kabul — including the heavily fortified area where embassies and international companies reside — on Saturday. 

Read more here and here

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