Toll from Afghan suicide attack rises to 33

KABUL: The death toll from a suicide attack at a military base in eastern Afghanistan rose to 33 on Monday, as casualties from the Taliban’s insurgency continue to mount despite nascent peace talks.
The Sunday evening bombing came at a military roadblock near Camp Chapman in Khost province, where both Afghan and foreign troops are stationed, shortly before iftar, the meal breaking the Ramadan fast.
Mubarez Zadran, a spokesman for the provincial governor, and a senior police official confirmed the new toll, which included 27 civilians and six Afghan security personnel — up from 18 reported killed earlier.
“Twelve children and three women are among the dead,” said Zadran.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Taliban — who last week held their first face-to-face peace talks with the Afghan government — have often targeted Afghan and foreign troops.
At least 12 civilians were also killed in twin roadside bomb blasts over the weekend, officials said, blaming the attacks on the Taliban.
Daesh claims leader alive after US airstrike
Daesh released an online audio clip Monday they claim came from the leader of an Afghan affiliate that authorities there say was killed in a US airstrike.
The Associated Press could not identify the man speaking in the clip as Hafeez Sayeed, whom Afghanistan said died Friday in an airstrike in Nangahar province that killed more than 30 militants. The US has said it conducted an airstrike there Friday, without elaborating.
Abdul Hassib Sediqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, said Saturday that the strike killed Sayeed. Sediqi offered no photographs or other evidence, though he said Afghan authorities verified a corpse from Friday’s strike was Sayeed.
Friday’s strike comes after Afghan officials earlier said another US airstrike killed the affiliate’s second-highest official, Gul Zaman, and six others, including a former Pakistani Taliban spokesman named Shahidullah Shahid who earlier had joined the group.