Helicopter crash kills 9 Afghan troops in central province

A helicopter crash in a single day has taken the lives of at the very least 9 Afghan navy personnel in a central province, the protection ministry mentioned Thursday.
In a press release, it mentioned that 4 crew members of the MI-17 helicopter together with 5 safety personnel have been killed within the crash, within the Behsud district of Maidan Wradak province. It gave no additional element besides to say that investigations have been ongoing.
Separately Thursday, a bombing killed 4 state workers commuting in a minibus within the capital Kabul, police mentioned. Ferdaws Faramarz, spokesman for the Kabul police chief, mentioned a lady was among the many useless and 9 different folks have been wounded within the assault within the metropolis’s north.
No one instantly claimed accountability for the Kabul assault, however authorities workers have been focused earlier than. On Monday, one other bombing on a minibus carrying state employees in Kabul killed three girls and a 3-year-old youngster, and wounded 13 others, based on safety officers.
Afghanistan is experiencing a nationwide spike in bombings, focused killings and different violence as peace negotiations in Qatar between Taliban insurgents and the Afghan authorities stall.

The Islamic State group’s native affiliate has claimed accountability for among the violence, however many assaults go unclaimed, with the Afghan authorities placing the blame on the Taliban. The insurgents have denied accountability for a lot of the assaults.
The assault in Kabul comes on the identical day Russia hosts the primary of three worldwide conferences aimed toward jump-starting the peace course of, forward of a May 1 deadline for the ultimate withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the nation.

The Moscow convention is seen as a essential first step towards peace. Key gamers are attending, together with U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, Afghan nationwide safety adviser Hamdullah Mohib and Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who will lead a 10-member delegation. Representatives of Pakistan, Iran, India and China are additionally collaborating.