Taliban attack aid group office in Afghanistan capital, 5 killed, several injured

At least five people were killed after Taliban militants attacked the offices of a US-based aid organisation in the Afghan capital on Wednesday. Taliban set off huge explosion, killing at least five people, the Interior Ministry said. The ministry's statement said four civilians and a police officer were killed and 24 others were wounded in the assault. Around 200 people were rescued from both buildings within the compound," it said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group attacked the organisation because it was involved in "harmful Western activities" inside Afghanistan, without elaborating.

The insurgents have rejected past cease-fire proposals, saying US and NATO troops must withdraw from the country first. The Taliban said they would continue their attacks during Ramadan, but would be "very careful of civilians during any operation."

Last year the Taliban had announced a three-day ceasefire at the end of Ramadan after Ghani declared a unilateral truce for eight days earlier in the month. 

Last month, Taliban fighters had attacked a convoy carrying Afghanistan’s vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum, in an assault that left the former warlord unscathed but killed one of his bodyguards, an official told AFP.

Enayatullah Babur, Dostum’s former chief of staff, said the hour-long attack also left several others in the convoy wounded.

The attack occurred in the northern province of Balkh, where Dostum had held a rally earlier in the day.