18 killed' in suicide car bomb attack near Afghanistan military base
Afganisthan
At least 18 civilians were killed and six wounded Sunday in a suicide car bomb attack near a military base in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, where Afghan and foreign soldiers are stationed, authorities said.
The bomber detonated the explosives at a military roadblock near the entrance to Camp Chapman as people were rushing to get home for iftar, the meal breaking the Ramadan fast, said Faizullah Ghairat, the Khost city police chief.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Taliban -- which last week held its first face-to-face peace talks with the Afghan government -- has often targeted Afghan and foreign troops.
The insurgents launched a countrywide offensive in late April, stepping up attacks on government and foreign targets despite the nascent peace talks in what is expected to be the bloodiest fighting season in a decade.
However it is ordinary Afghans who are paying the price, the UN mission in the country has said, with almost 1,000 civilians killed during the first four months of this year, a sharp jump from the same period last year.
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