Afghanistan: Blast leaves 10 dead, several wounded

KABUL, Afghanistan

Minutes after the government claimed to have cleared a city in northern Afghanistan of insurgents, the Taliban reportedly struck back, killing 10 people and injuring five others, including the police chief.

Nusrat Samimi, Interior Ministry spokesman, confirmed Saturday that a suicide bomber detonated himself with explosives when Police Chief Manzur Stanikzai was briefing journalists in the Kunduz city center.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Earlier, authorities claimed to have pushed the Taliban out of Kunduz, hours after the insurgents stormed the strategically important city.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani described the assault as a “failed attack” by the Taliban and questioned their commitment to the peace process and talks with the U.S. in Qatar.

Feroz Bashari, a government spokesman, said in a series of tweets said that at least 26 Taliban fighters were killed in the first airstrike in Zakhail, Kunduz. He accused the Taliban of using civilians as human shields.

Kunduz, once the Taliban’s hub in the north, briefly fell twice to the group in 2015 and 2016. It is Afghanistan’s sixth-largest city and the largest city in the northeast, linking northern provinces with Kabul.

The offensive coincided with the resumption of talks between the U.S. and Taliban on Saturday in the Qatari capital Doha.

Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in violence ahead of the Sept. 28 presidential elections. The Taliban insurgents oppose the elections.