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Afghan police in Kabul Thursday recovered the bodies of three foreign nationals who they said had been abducted and killed, in the latest incident targeting foreigners in the war-torn capital. ‘At this stage we think it is a terrorist incident,’ a police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai told AFP, describing the incident as an abduction. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the killings. A spokesman from the interior ministry also confirmed the incident, saying the victims were from India, Macedonia and Malaysia. The three men were working for a logistics company in the capital. The incident happened after the group left their office with a car and driver Thursday. Just over an hour later their bodies were found in what appeared to be a different car by authorities in the rural outskirts of Kabul. ‘They had been shot inside the car,’ said Bahar Mehr with the interior ministry. Kabul is plagued by criminal gangs who stage abductions for ransom, often targeting foreigners and wealthy locals, and sometimes hand them over to insurgent groups. Kidnapping of Afghans and foreigners is also common across Afghanistan where swathes of the country are infested with militant groups or criminal gangs. In August 2016, gunmen wearing military uniforms kidnapped two professors of the American University of Afghanistan in the heart of Kabul. The two, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks, appeared looking haggard in a Taliban hostage video, with the insurgents later adding that King was in poor health. Aid workers in particular have increasingly been casualties of a surge in violence in recent years. Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of the grinding conflict that began after the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime. Militant attacks and suicide bombs were the leading causes of civilian deaths in the first half of 2018, a recent UN report showed. While the Taliban is Afghanistan's largest militant group and holds or contests more territory than any other insurgent outfit, the Islamic State has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to carry out devastating attacks in urban areas. The incident comes a day after more than 150 Islamic State fighters surrendered in northern Afghanistan move that Afghan security forces and the Taliban hailed as the end of the extremist group in the north of the country.

More than 150 Islamic State fighters surrendered in Afghanistan on Wednesday, Afghan officials said, a move which they and the Taliban hailed as the end of the extremist group in the north of the country. NATO urged caution, saying it was premature to write the group off in the region. The surrender came after weeks of intense fighting between IS and the Taliban in Jowzjan province in the north, and continuing pressure from Afghan and US forces. It also came as the Afghan army took over security in the eastern city of Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province which is an IS stronghold, after a wave of attacks mostly claimed by the group. In Jowzjan, Afghan officials described the surrender as a turning point. "Their fighters have surrendered in the past, but this time it is more important because the Daesh leader and deputy surrendered with more than 150 fighters all at once," Mohammad Hanif Rezaee, spokesman for the army's 209 Corps in the north, told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS.  Rezaee said 30 women and children had also handed themselves in to Afghan authorities.  "With this, the Daesh chapter is going to be closed in the north," he added. However NATO's Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan warned it was "premature" to conclude that this degradation of IS "equates to its collapse in the north of the country". IS has a relatively small but potent presence in Afghanistan, mainly in the eastern province of Nangarhar but more recently in Jowzjan.  The group has fought turf wars with the much larger Taliban since emerging in Afghanistan in 2014. Estimates of their numbers in the country run as high as around 2,000.  Until a few weeks ago there had been around 500 IS fighters in the Darzab and Qush Tepa districts of Jowzjan, provincial governor Lutfullah Azizi has said. But the Taliban stepped up fighting with the group there after an IS attack on their fighters last month killed at least 15 people, Azizi said.  The Taliban took credit for the surrender announced by Afghan officials on Wednesday, saying it had "cleared" the north of IS fighters. It claimed it had captured 130, wounded more than 100 and killed 153.  Defending Jalalabad The development comes as the Afghan army took over security in Jalalabad, with more checkpoints set up and special forces conducting operations a day after militants stormed a government department in the city and killed 15 people.  Among those killed was a local employee of the International Organization for Migration and a local staff member of the International Rescue Committee, both foreign agencies said in statements.  No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but IS is widely suspected of carrying it out. "To provide better security for the people, the national army is leading the security in the city," Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, told AFP. The army will spearhead efforts "to contain the emergency situation" for a week, Khogyani said. Eventually, police and soldiers "will join hands to secure the city", he added, but declined to give further details. Mohammad Ali, a soldier deployed from neighbouring Kunar province, told AFP at a checkpoint that he and his colleagues would "defend this city until the death". The Taliban has not claimed a major attack in a city for weeks as it comes under increased pressure to agree to peace talks with the Afghan government. But IS has carried out multiple attacks in Jalalabad and the capital Kabul in recent months, targeting everything from government ministries to a midwife training centre. Last month an IS suicide bomber blew himself up near Kabul international airport, killing 23 people including AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar.  The increased attacks come as US and Afghan forces intensify ground and air offensives against IS, and the Taliban step up their turf war with the group. "IS has come under intense pressure... they have lost a lot of men," said former general Hadi Khalid, now a military analyst. "The only strategy that can keep them going is to attack soft targets and that is what they have been doing recently."  However Borhan Osman, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, cautioned that IS attacks on soft targets were not necessarily the result of recent losses on the battlefield. "Attacking lightly defended targets has been part of IS-KP's modus operandi from the outset," he told AFP.

* Suicide bomber blows himself up at entrance to government building * No immediate claim of responsibility * Recent attacks seen as show of force by Islamic State  At least 15 people were killed on Tuesday in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad when gunmen stormed a government building, trapping dozens inside after a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance gate, officials and witnesses said. The attack underlines the country's dire security situation after 17 years of war, with Islamic State increasingly claiming attacks on civilian targets even as pressure builds for peace talks between the Western-backed government and the Taliban. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though the Taliban issued a statement denying involvement. After several hours during which intermittent gunfire and explosions could be heard, provincial government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said the incident appeared to be over with two gunmen killed and much of the building destroyed. He said at least 15 people had been killed and 15 wounded although the total may rise as rescue workers search the site. Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the local provincial council, said eight had been killed and as many as 30 wounded. One witness, a passerby named Obaidullah, said the attack began when a black car with three occupants pulled up at the entrance to a building used by the department of refugee affairs and a gunman emerged, firing around him. One attacker blew himself up at the gate and two gunmen entered the building, in an area close to shops and government offices, he added. Minutes later, the car blew up, wounding people in the street, Obaidullah said. "We saw several people wounded and helped to carry them away," he added. As security forces cordoned off the area, gunshots and what appeared to be hand grenade explosions could be heard as a cloud of black smoke drifted into the sky. Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the local provincial council, said about 40 people appeared to have been caught inside the building, which caught fire early in the attack. As the attack concluded, it was not immediately clear what had happened to them. Islamic State has claimed a number of recent attacks in the city. Khogyani said the attack happened during a meeting with NGOs working on refugee-related issues. The head of the department and several other people were taken to safety, he said. Although it is unclear whether there is any direct connection, Islamic State attacks have picked up as hopes for peace talks between the government and the Taliban have grown in the wake of last month's three-day ceasefire. The attacks have been concentrated in Jalalabad, the main city of Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan where Islamic State fighters first appeared towards the end of 2014. The casualties add to a mounting toll in Afghanistan. In the western province of Farah, 11 people were killed when their bus was hit by a roadside bomb, officials said. Also on Tuesday, unknown attackers seized 22 people from vehicles on a highway linking Kabul and Gardez, a key city in the eastern province of Paktia.

An Afghan child forced to marry a man at least twice her age in a traditional bridal exchange has been tortured to death by her husband in a revenge killing, officials said Tuesday.  The body of the girl called Hameya, whom authorities estimate was aged between seven and 10, was found on Sunday night, said Naqibullah Amini, police spokesman for the northwestern province of Badghis. Hameya's husband was on the run from police and her father had been detained for questioning, Amini added. Provincial governor's spokesman Jamshid Shahabi said Hameya was married under a tradition known as "badal", when girls are exchanged between two families as brides.  Badal enables both families to reduce the cost of marriage by avoiding paying a dowry. After the other girl in the arrangement was killed by her own husband, Hameya's husband began to torture her in revenge and eventually killed her, Shahabi told AFP.  Hameya's husband, whom officials said was aged between 20 and 30, already had at least one wife, according to Lailuma Noorzad, head of the provincial women's affairs department. Hameya had been married for six months, officials said.  The legal marriage age in Afghanistan is 16 for girls and 18 for boys, according to the United Nations.  But the traditional practice of marrying children still persists in the conservative and patriarchal country, largely due to poverty and insecurity. At least one in three Afghan girls is married before they turn 18, the United Nations Children's Fund said in a recent report. 

Suspected militants stormed a government building in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Tuesday, taking dozens of people hostage after a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance gate, officials and witnesses said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though a spate of deadly attacks on the city in recent weeks have been seen as a show of force by the Islamic State militant group. According to one witness, a passerby named Obaidullah, the latest attack began when a black car with three occupants pulled up at the entrance to a building used by the department of refugee affairs, and a gunman got out firing around him. One attacker blew himself at the gate and the two other gunmen entered the building, in an area close to shops and government offices, said Obaidullah. A few minutes later, the car blew up, wounding a number of people in the street, he said. ‘We saw several people wounded and helped to carry them away,’ Obaidullah said. As security forces closed off the area, gunshots could be heard and a clouds of black smoke spiralled into the sky above the area. Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the local provincial council, said around 40 people appeared to be caught inside the building, which caught fire in the initial stages of the attack. One hostage had called the security services and told them that the attackers had ordered the people inside not to move, he said. Provincial government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said the attack happened during a meeting with NGOs working on refugee-related issues. The head of the department and several other people were taken to safety, he said. Although it is unclear whether there is any direct connection, Islamic State attacks have picked up as hopes for peace talks between the government and the Taliban have grown in the wake of last month's three-day ceasefire. The casualties add to a mounting toll in Afghanistan. On the other side of the country, in the western province of Farah, a roadside bomb hit a bus, killing as many as 11 people, officials said.

A roadside bomb which hit a bus in restive western Afghanistan on Tuesday killed at least eight people and wounded around 40, mostly women and children, officials said. ‘It was a bomb planted by the Taliban to hit security forces but... it got a passenger bus,’ Farah provincial police spokesman Muhibullah Muhib told AFP. There was no immediate confirmation from the Taliban that they were responsible. Afghanistan's largest militant group is very active in the region and often uses improvised explosive devices against government officials and Afghan and foreign forces. The bus began its journey in the western city of Herat and was headed for the Afghan capital. The explosion happened as it travelled through Farah's Bala Baluk district at 4:30 am, provincial governor's spokesman Naser Mehri told AFP. Around a dozen of the wounded -- mostly members of the Hazara ethnic group -- were taken to hospital in Herat. Among them was Mohammad Zahir, 40, who had been travelling with his newly married daughter to visit relatives in Kabul. ‘The bus was driving on the main road when I heard a big bang,’ Zahir told AFP. ‘When I woke up I found myself in the hospital. I still don't know what's happened to my daughter.’ Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack. ‘Harming civilians, especially scholars, children and women, is against the Ulema Council's (Afghanistan's top religious leaders) fatwa,’ Ghani said in a statement, referring to the group's proclamation in June that suicide attacks and explosions were ‘haram’ or prohibited. - Civilian deaths - A photo posted on social media purportedly of the bus showed the vehicle's blackened shell and dozens of men at the scene. Some were peering inside while others were walking through the wreckage. A number of emergency vehicles could be seen. Civilians have borne the brunt of the 17-year conflict and improvised explosive devices, such as remotely detonated or pressure-plate bombs, are one of the main cause of casualties. Such IEDs caused 877 civilian casualties in the first half of 2018 -- 232 deaths and 645 wounded -- accounting for 17 percent of overall civilian casualties, the latest UN figures show. A total of 1,692 civilians were killed in the conflict during the first six months of this year. Another 3,430 were wounded. That was the highest number of civilian fatalities for the period since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began keeping records in 2009. Militant attacks and suicide bombs were the leading causes of death. The Taliban has a strong presence across western Afghanistan, particularly in Farah. It launched a major attempt to take over the provincial capital in May, triggering intense fighting with US and Afghan forces. After a day-long battle the Taliban fighters were forced to the outskirts of the city.

Several gunmen stormed a midwife training centre in an ongoing attack in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday that has left at least three people wounded, officials said, as plumes of smoke were seen rising above the compound. Afghan security forces have stormed the centre in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, and gunfire could be heard from inside, witnesses and officials told AFP. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack, but most of the recent assaults in the city have been carried out by the Islamic State group, which has a stronghold in Nangarhar. "The Afghan security forces have cordoned off the area and... launched an operation to gun down the attackers," provincial governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said. Several midwives have been rescued, he added. Provincial health department spokesman Inamullah Miakhil confirmed its midwife centre had been attacked. Three wounded civilians have been taken to hospital, Khogyani said.  A witness in a nearby department told AFP he heard several explosions and then saw three gunmen enter the street where the midwife centre is located. Some of the security forces appeared to be dismantling improvised explosive devices apparently planted in the street by the militants, a witness told AFP. Jalalabad has been the scene of several attacks in recent months that have killed dozens, as US and Afghan forces continue offensive operations against IS and Taliban militants.  Health workers a target Government buildings are a common target for insurgents, including hospitals and medical facilities.  While it is not known why the gunmen targeted the midwife training centre, midwives have been attacked in the past for providing reproductive health services to women. Islamist groups -- and many ordinary Afghans -- also oppose women working outside the home. While thousands of women have been trained as midwives since the 2001 US-led invasion, Afghanistan still has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. The last major attack in Jalalabad happened on July 11 when gunmen raided an education department compound in the city, sparking an hours-long battle with security forces. At least 11 people were killed in the attack. All were employees of the education department branch and included the director. A suicide bomb attack claimed by IS on a crowd of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad on July 1 killed at least 19 people and wounded 21. The Taliban is Afghanistan's largest militant group and IS has a relatively small but potent presence, mainly in the east and north of the country. It first emerged in Afghanistan in 2014 and quickly established a stronghold in Nangarhar. Intensified aerial and ground operations against the militants have failed to dislodge them. An unprecedented three-day ceasefire involving Afghan security forces and the Taliban last month did not include IS. The first formal nationwide truce since 2001 was marred by two IS suicide attacks in Nangarhar.  While the Afghan government and its foreign backers are seeking to strike a peace deal with the Taliban, US forces have repeatedly said they plan to annihilate IS. 

At least three people were wounded after five rockets were fired into Kabul on Tuesday, police said, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack on the Afghan capital. The rockets landed in residential areas "near the mountains in PD5 (police district)" in the west of the city, police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said. It is not clear if a nearby police academy was the intended target. Three civilians were wounded in the attacks and police have been deployed to find the launch site, Stanikzai added. The rocket attacks came two days after a suicide bomber blew himself up near Kabul international airport, killing at least 23 people, including AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar. A further 107 people were wounded. Sunday's attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, which said it had targeted Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, who returned to Kabul after more than a year in exile. Scores of government officials, political leaders and supporters had gone to the airport to welcome home Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek leader and former warlord. Dostum was unharmed in the attack, his armoured vehicle having already whisked him away when the bomber struck. The attacks also came a day after top US commanders told reporters in Kabul that they were seeing progress in the nearly 17-year war. General Joseph Votel, who heads the Central Command that oversees US operations in the region, expressed "cautious optimism" that President Donald Trump's South Asia strategy was working. As evidence, Votel pointed to the Afghan government's unilateral ceasefire last month that was reciprocated by the Taliban for three days -- the first formal nationwide truce since the war started. "Our campaign approach of (increasing) military pressure provided the time and space for diplomatic and social pressure to pursue this opportunity," Votel said.

The death toll from a suicide attack near Kabul international airport has risen to 23, the health ministry said on Monday, with an AFP driver among the dead. At least 107 others were wounded in Sunday's powerful explosion, which happened as scores of people were leaving the airport after welcoming home Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum from exile. The health ministry warned the latest toll, which initially had been 14 dead and 60 wounded, could change.  AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar, 31, was among those killed when the suicide bomber blew himself up. The father of four had been on his way to work the night shift.  The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group through its official Amaq news agency, according to the SITE intelligence monitoring group. Senior Afghan government officials, political leaders and supporters had gone to the airport to greet Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek leader and former warlord. Despite being linked to a catalogue of human rights abuses in Afghanistan, Dostum was mobbed like a celebrity as he arrived in Afghanistan after more than a year in exile. He was travelling in an armoured vehicle and narrowly escaped the attack. Dostum fled to Turkey in May 2017 after being accused of organising the rape and torture of a political rival. He had denied the allegations and said his departure was for medical check-ups and family reasons. Seven of Dostum's bodyguards have been convicted of the sexual assault and illegal imprisonment of Ahmad Ishchi, a former governor of the northern province of Jowzjan, in 2016.

A suicide bomber killed at least 11 people and wounded 14 at the entrance to Kabul international airport on Sunday, officials said, as scores gathered to welcome home Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum from exile. Senior government officials, political leaders and supporters were leaving the airport after greeting the powerful ethnic Uzbek leader and former warlord when the explosion happened. Dostum, clad in a Western suit and sunglasses and travelling in an armoured vehicle, was unharmed, said his spokesman Bashir Ahmad Tayanj. Kabul Police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said 11 people had been killed and 14 wounded. He did not give a breakdown. Th suicide bomber was on foot, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said, adding that civilians, including a child, and security force members were among the casualties. Dostum, who is linked to a catalogue of human rights abuses in Afghanistan, was mobbed like a celebrity as he left the chartered plane from Turkey where he has lived since May 2017. His return, which has been the subject of much speculation, comes amid violent protests in several provinces across northern Afghanistan, his traditional power base. Thousands of Dostum's supporters have taken to the streets in recent weeks, shuttering election and government offices and blocking sections of highways to demand the release of a pro-government militia leader and call for Dostum's return. Expectations of the return did little to quell the unrest, with protesters vowing Sunday to continue demonstrating until the burly leader of the Uzbek ethnic minority tells them otherwise. "We don't trust the government. We will continue our protests unless General Dostum tells us to stop," Ehsanullah Qowanch, a protest leader in Faryab province, told AFP. Qowanch also repeated calls for the release of Nezamuddin Qaisari -- a district police chief and Dostum's provincial representative in Faryab -- whose arrest earlier this month ignited the protests. Another protester, Massoud Khan, said: "We have been on the streets for 20 days now. We are not going to stop our protests unless our demands are met."  'Known killer' Observers say President Ashraf Ghani, an ethnic Pashtun, gave the green light for Dostum to come home to stabilise the north and secure Uzbek support before next year's presidential election, which he is widely expected to contest. Dostum left Afghanistan in May 2017 after he was accused of organising the rape and torture of a political rival. He had denied the allegations and said his departure was for medical check-ups and family reasons. Ghani in 2009 described Dostum as a "known killer". Yet he chose him as his running mate in the 2014 presidential election, underlining the sometimes uncomfortable ethnic realities of Afghan politics. Presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri said Saturday that Dostum had been "treated" and would resume his duties upon his return. Seven of Dostum's bodyguards have been convicted of the sexual assault and illegal imprisonment of Ahmad Ishchi, a former governor of the northern province of Jowzjan, in 2016. Dostum allegedly had Ishchi abducted in Jowzjan and then kept him hostage in his private compound for several days, where the captive was said to have been tortured and sodomised. Chakhansuri deflected questions about whether Dostum would face charges over the incident, saying "the judiciary is an independent body, the government does not interfere in their decisions". Dostum is one of several controversial figures whom Kabul has sought to reintegrate into mainstream politics since the US-led invasion in 2001. His heroic status in the north belies the barbarities for which he is known. Dostum, who helped the United States oust the Taliban regime in 2001, allegedly allowed hundreds of Taliban prisoners to be suffocated in shipping containers.

Afghanistan's Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who left the country last year amid allegations of sexual abuse and torture, will return home on Sunday after more than a year in exile and resume his duties, officials said. Government spokesman Haroon Chakansuri confirmed on Saturday that Dostum would return home on a chartered aircraft on Sunday and would be given an official reception. Accusations against him would be handled independently by the courts, he said. "Legal issues are a matter for judicial authorities," the spokesman told a news conference in Kabul. The return of Dostum followed days of sometimes violent protests by supporters in northern Afghanistan over the arrest of a militia commander loyal to him. Officials said that negotiations for the return have been going on for weeks. Chakansuri also said the commander, Nizamuddin Qaisari, who was arrested after a violent dispute with security officials in the northern province of Faryab, would stay in prison pending an investigation, while other militia commanders accused of abuses would be pursued. Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek veteran of decades of Afghanistan's bloody politics, faced outrage from Western donor countries including the United States after reports in 2016 that his guards had seized Ahmad Eshchi, a political rival and subjected him to beatings, torture and violent sexual abuse. He denied Eshchi's accusations but amid international demands that he be held accountable, he left the country in May last year, ostensibly to seek medical treatment in Turkey and has not returned since. Once described by the US State Department as a "quintessential warlord", Dostum has for years faced accusations of serious human rights abuses, including killing Taliban prisoners by leaving them in sealed cargo containers. He joined President Ashraf Ghani in the disputed 2014 elections, helping to deliver support from the ethnic Uzbek community in northern Afghanistan and his return from exile comes ahead of the next presidential election in early 2019. Dostum's expected return adds to an already volatile mix ahead of separate parliamentary elections in October that are seen as a dry run for the more important presidential elections next year. Protestors calling for his return closed a number of voter registration offices and threatened to disrupt the parliamentary ballot, seen as a key test of Afghanistan's political stability. While in exile, he formed a loose coalition with Atta Mohammad Noor, the powerful former governor of Balkh province with wide support among ethnic Tajiks as well as Mohammad Mohaqiq, a leader of the Hazara minority. 

At least 14 civilians including women and children were killed in an Afghan-US aerial operation in northern Kunduz province, officials said Friday. Two other civilians were wounded in the strike, which took place in Char Dara district of the province, Ministry of Defence spokesman Mohammad Radmanish said. At least three residential houses were destroyed in the attack, a spokesman for the governor of Kunduz, Enaamuddin Rahmani, and provincial council member Aminullah Ayiddin said. On April, an Afghan airstrike on a religious school in the Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz left at least 50 people dead, including civilians. Military operations by both Afghan and insurgent groups in Afghanistan have intensified in recent months, with civilian casualties hitting a new record in 2018, according to UN data. According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 1,692 civilians were killed between January 1 and June 30 - the highest figure reported for that period over the last nine years. Separately, at least 12 police officers were killed after Taliban militants stormed a checkpoint in Imam Saheb district of Kunduz, a provincial council member said. A police chief for the district put the casualties at six dead and five injured.

Bloody clashes between Islamic State and Taliban fighters have left more than 120 dead on both sides over the past three days in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province, officials said Thursday. 72 Taliban and 52 Islamic State fighters were killed in the clashes that took place in Qushtepa and Darzab districts while around 100 others, including 60 Taliban fighters, were injured, spokesman for Jawzjan governor Mohammad Reza and provincial council Abdul Qadeer Maleya told dpa. The fighting between both groups began some 10 days ago when the Taliban attacked Islamic State positions in the district in order to push them out of areas under IS control. Separately on Tuesday, two Islamic State fighters attacked a Taliban funeral ceremony in northern Sar-e-Pul province, leaving at least 15 militants dead. Five others were wounded. An estimated 600 to 700 Islamic State members, including some 50 foreign fighters are present in Darzab district, officials say. The group has recently seen a surge in recruiting in the face of increasing Taliban pressure. The Islamist extremist groups have long been fighting each other for territorial control in northern and eastern Afghanistan, especially Jawzan and Nangarhar provinces.

Islamic State fighters attacked the house of a Taliban commander in the northern Afghan province of Sar-e Pul on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people as they were attending a prayer ceremony, the provincial governor's office said. The attack, in Sayyad district of Sar-e Pul, followed reports from local officials of fighting between Islamic State and Taliban militants in other northern provinces over recent days. "Two Daesh fighters entered a Taliban commander's house where a ceremony was under way and opened fire," said Zabihullah Amani, spokesman for the Sar-e-Pul governor's office said, using a term widely used for Islamic State. He said 15 Taliban were killed and another five wounded. Northern Afghanistan has become one of the main areas of Islamic State activity in Afghanistan as the movement has spread beyond its original base in the eastern province of Nangarhar, where it remains strong. However establishing a clear picture of the group remains difficult in a remote and often mountainous region, with diverse bands of fighters and militiamen often switching sides between the Taliban, Islamic State and even the pro-government camp. In Nangarhar, a local commander known variously as Saba Gul or Mohammad Khorasani was killed by a drone strike on Monday afternoon, the Nangarhar governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani, said. A former Taliban commander, he moved to Islamic State after the group first appeared in Nangarhar in late 2014 and was responsible for hundreds of deaths, Khogyani said. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, troops raided a Taliban prison in the southern province of Helmand late on Monday, releasing 58 prisoners, officials said. The Taliban prisoners, including both civilians and members of the security forces, were released following an army raid on a prison in Musa Qala district of Helmand province, according to a statement from the 215 Maiwand army corps. Separately, Taliban fighters attacked three checkpoints of the Afghan border forces in the southern province of Kandahar, killing nine members of the security forces and suffering 25 killed themselves, Kandahar police spokesman Zia Durani said. 

At least nine Afghan army soldiers were killed after Taliban militants attacked their checkpoints in northern Kunduz province, officials say. Dozens of others were injured in the attacks on at least two checkposts in Imam Saheb district of the province, provincial council member Mohmmad Yousif Ayoubi said. The militants launched the attacks late Monday from at least five directions and they lasted throughout the night, according to another provincial council member, Aminullah Ayeddin.

Pupils at 103 schools in Afghanistan's central province of Logar could not go to school on Saturday as education facilities were closed due to Taliban threats, an official said. Officials shuttered more than 60 schools in the centre of the provincial capital Pol-e Alam due to threats from the insurgent group, said Abdul Wakil Kaliwal, head of Logar's Education Department. Around 40 others remained shut in the Taliban-controlled district of Mohamad Agha, he added. The closures have deprived some 60,000 students of education in the province. Taliban militants have started to threaten teachers in a bid to make them stay at home after suffering heavy casualties in recent military operations in Logar, according to officials. Meanwhile, in the southern province of Helmand, 123 schools have been shut for 10 years due to ongoing violence, affecting more than 600,000 students, an official said. Corruption, the ongoing insurgency and the reluctance of local residents are the main reasons behind school closures in the embattled province, said Dawood Safari, head of education for Helmand. Since May, the Taliban have closed some 30 schools in Takhar province in the country's north, depriving some 11,000 students of education. At least 3.7 million children in Afghanistan aged 7 to 17 are not able to go to school, the United Nation's Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) said in a report published in May.

Taliban attacks on Afghan security forces in the country's north have caused ‘heavy casualties’, officials said Thursday, putting the number of soldiers killed as high as 40 in fighting that is ongoing. Militants using night-vision goggles launched simultaneous raids on several Afghan military bases and posts in Dashte Archi district in Kunduz province overnight, defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanish and other Afghan security sources told AFP. ‘We have suffered casualties, the Taliban have also suffered casualties,’ Radmanish said. Between 10 and 15 Afghan soldiers had been killed so far, and about the same number wounded, he added. But an Afghan security source told AFP that the death toll among security forces was ‘more than 40’, and another confirmed that 39 had been killed and 10 wounded. A separate security source said there had been ‘heavy casualties’ among the soldiers. An air and ground operation against the Taliban was under way, Radmanish said. The night-vision goggles helped the Taliban fighters execute their pre-dawn attack, a senior Afghan commander told AFP. He said the attacks were carried out by the group's elite Red Unit. ‘Since we don't have the night vision (goggles), the Taliban can get close to soldiers without them noticing,’ he said. Mohammad Hanif Rezayee, a spokesman for the 209 Shaheen Army Corps in the north, said two military posts had fallen to the Taliban, but security forces had managed to beat back an attack on a base. In a separate incident, Afghan forces launched airstrikes on a gathering of high-ranking Taliban members in the southeastern province of Ghazni, killing 24 and wounding 17, the defence ministry said in a statement Thursday. Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqi, who was a Taliban minister during its 1996-2001 regime, was among the injured, the defence ministry said. A recent ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban during the Islamic holiday Eid had raised hopes that an end to hostilities in the war-weary country was possible. Since then, however, the Taliban has returned to the battlefield, launching deadly attacks against the Afghan military across the country. The latest attacks come as President Ashraf Ghani attends a NATO summit in Brussels where he will be hoping to get a greater commitment from members to the nearly 17-year conflict. Currently, there are about 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, providing the main component of the NATO mission there to support and train local forces.

At least 10 people were killed and hundreds of homes destroyed in a remote area of northeastern Afghanistan after melting snow triggered a landslide, officials said Thursday. A mountain lake in Panjshir, a province north of Kabul known for its snowcapped peaks, overflowed and sent water and mud cascading over Peshghor village, Omar Mohammadi, spokesman for the disaster management ministry, told AFP. Jamil Ahmad was lying in bed just before midnight when he said he heard a sound like ‘jets’ flying overhead. ‘Somebody shouted 'Flood!' and I ran away with my family to higher ground,’ Ahmad told AFP by telephone. ‘The people started firing (weapons) into the air to warn others about the flood.’ The water and mud had inundated most of the houses in the village, and destroyed a religious school, two mosques and the main market, Ahmad said. ‘Three women from my neighbourhood and two labourers who didn't hear the warning were taken away by the flood,’ Ahmad said. Villagers had been worried about the possibility of landslides after several days of increasingly warm weather, Ahmad said. Most survivors were staying on higher ground for fear of more, he added. Photos posted on social media purportedly showed houses and farmland covered in water and mud after the Panjshir River broke its banks. Villagers using shovels and other tools were desperately searching for survivors in the debris as rescue teams were deployed to the area, Mohammadi said. ‘We have deployed everything at hand to help the people,’ he said. ‘Some people are missing.’ Disasters such as avalanches and flash floods often hit in mountainous areas of Afghanistan as snow melts in the spring and summer. It is made worse by deforestation. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who is in Brussels for the NATO summit, said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by the latest natural disaster. ‘A number of people have lost their lives’ in the landslide, Ghani said in a statement. He ordered ‘relevant authorities to provide urgent assistance to the affected people’. The landslide comes as the country is in the grip of a nearly 17-year war between Afghan security forces and the Taliban.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will pledge to send 440 extra troops to Afghanistan during the Nato summit in Brussels on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump urges allies to contribute more. The extra troops will be from the Welsh Guards regiment, with around half deploying in August and a second contingent to follow in February. "In committing additional troops to the Train Advise Assist operation in Afghanistan we have underlined once again that when Nato calls the UK is among the first to answer," May is expected to say at the summit. The troops will help "bring the stability and security that the Afghan people deserve," she is expected to say. The extra deployment will take the total number of British troops in the country to around 1,100. The last UK combat troops left Afghanistan in 2014 after being involved in the conflict since 2001. Nato countries have a total of 16,000 personnel in Afghanistan to support Afghan forces, including 13,000 US troops. Nato asked Britain to deploy more forces last year and Trump has repeatedly called on Nato allies to increase their defence spending. Britain is one of just five Nato members to meet the target of spending at least 2.0% of GDP on defence. "The alliance can rely on the UK to lead by example, not just in meeting the 2.0% pledge but by contributing our cutting edge capabilities to operations around the world," May will say.

At least 10 people were killed after gunmen stormed an education department compound in Afghanistan's east on Wednesday, officials said, sparking an hours-long battle with security forces in the latest attack in the restive region. Ten others were wounded in the second attack in Jalalabad city in as many days, Nangarhar provincial governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said in a statement. It is not clear how many government workers were trapped inside the building during the fierce gunbattle between security forces and militants that has now ended. "So far 10 bodies have been recovered and taken to local hospitals. Ten people have also been wounded," Khogyani said. An AFP reporter at the scene confirmed seeing 10 bodies inside the compound. He also saw the remains of what officials said were the bodies of two attackers. The sound of gunfire followed by a "big explosion" that shattered windows alerted Qari Samiullah to the fact that an attack was under way near his shop. "I left my shop and ran when I heard a second explosion," Samiullah told AFP. "Smoke came out of the building and all the people started to run away." Shir Mohammad was inside a nearby shop when the gunmen launched their attack. "I heard gunfire which was followed by an explosion and then intense gunfire," Mohammad told AFP. A security guard employed by the education department branch was among the dead, Khogyani said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the raid. Local teachers had been delivering exam results from their schools to the office when the gunmen attacked, provincial education department spokesman Asif Shinwari told AFP. "Quite a few teachers are inside the building," Shinwari added. Jalalabad's education department was also attacked by gunmen exactly a month ago. At least 10 people were wounded then. Nangarhar's provincial capital has seen an uptick in violence in recent weeks, with the Islamic State group claiming most of the attacks. On Tuesday, a suicide attack in the city killed at least 12 people and ignited a nearby petrol station, with witnesses describing screaming victims "swallowed" by flames. The bomber was targeting Afghan security forces when he blew himself up. Ten civilians were among the dead. IS claimed that attack via its Amaq propaganda agency. More Nato troops  The series of high-casualty suicide bomb attacks in the province comes as US and Afghan forces continue offensive operations against the group. One of the deadliest was on July 1 when a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad, killing at least 19 people.  While the Taliban is Afghanistan's largest militant group, IS has a relatively small but potent presence, mainly in the north and east of the country. Wednesday's attack comes a day after President Ashraf Ghani flew to Brussels to attend a Nato summit where he will be hoping to get a greater commitment from members to the nearly 17-year conflict. Currently, there are about 14,000 US troops in Afghanistan, providing the main component of the Nato mission there to support and train local forces. British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to pledge to send 440 extra troops to Afghanistan during the summit. A recent ceasefire between Afghan security forces and the Taliban during the Eid holiday had raised hopes that an end to hostilities in the war-weary country was possible. Since then, however, the Taliban has returned to the battlefield and IS, which was not involved in the truce, has continued to carry out deadly attacks. Nangarhar borders Pakistan, which has been under growing US pressure to crack down on extremist groups operating in the country. Pakistan has long been accused of supporting the Afghan Taliban and providing safe haven to its leaders, charges Islamabad denies. Pakistan, in return, has accused Afghanistan of sheltering the Pakistani Taliban.