Afghanistan

Afghanistan: German consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif attacked

Reports described a huge blast at the diplomatic mission followed by gunfire.

A hospital official said more than 80 people were hurt in the attack, which happened around 23:00 (18:30 GMT).

The Taliban says it carried out the attack in response to coalition air strikes earlier this month in Kunduz which killed civilians.

Nato is investigating the incident in the northern city, which happened when Afghan troops surrounded by Taliban militants called in air support.

Thirty civilians died in the fighting, many of them in the air strikes, local officials said.

Bus, fuel tanker collision kills 35 in Afghanistan

"The passenger bus was on its way from Kandahar to Kabul when it collided with a fuel tanker," Zabul's Governor, Bismillah Afghanmal, told AFP.

The collision sparked an inferno and many of the victims, including women and children, were burned beyond recognition, he said.

Some of the wounded were rushed to hospitals in provincial capital Qalat as well as neighbouring Kandahar province, said Ghulam Jilani Farahi, deputy Zabul police chief.

IS leader in Afghanistan killed, US believes

Last year, the Afghan intelligence agency said it believed Saeed Khan had died in a drone attack in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar.

However, IS insisted its leader had survived that attack.

On Friday, the US said he had been killed in a new drone attack in Nangarhar's Achin district on 26 July.

Kabul blast: Afghanistan mourns protest bombing victims

So-called Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind Saturday's attack on members of the Shia Hazara minority.

In a televised address, President Ashraf Ghani vowed to take revenge against those responsible.

The UN mission in Afghanistan has described the attack as a "war crime".

Tadamichi Yamamoto, head of the UN assistance mission, said the attackers had specifically targeted a large number of civilians.

On Saturday, the IS-linked Amaq news agency said two fighters had detonated explosive belts at a "gathering of Shia" in Deh Mazang square.

India aid worker freed in Afghanistan rescue operation

Judith D'Souza, 40, was working for the Aga Khan Foundation when she was abducted at gunpoint near her home in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on 9 June.

No details have been given about the rescue operation and officials have not said who the hostage takers were.

"Judith D'Souza is with us - safe and in good spirits," Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter.

Ms D'Souza is travelling back to India with her country's ambassador to Afghanistan and is due to reach Delhi on Saturday evening, Ms Swaraj added.

Attack on Afghan police kills dozens

Two bombs hit a convoy of buses carrying graduates from a ceremony on the city's western outskirts.

Paghman District Governor Musa Khan told the BBC that all but two of the dead were police cadets.

The bombing was claimed by the Taliban and followsan attack on a bus just over a week ago that killed 14 people.

A Taliban spokesman said that in Thursday's attack, the first bomber attacked one bus and when rescuers began to arrive the second drove an explosives-laden car into their vehicles.

Multiple US breakdowns may have led to mistaken attack

Multiple U.S. breakdowns may have led to the aerial pummeling.

At least three official investigations are underway, including a short-term NATO assessment that could open an early window into what went wrong. But on Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders, the international charity whose medical clinic was hit Saturday, called for an independent investigation, saying the attack was possibly a war crime and that U.S. and Afghan investigators cannot be relied upon to be impartial.

US military favors keeping troops in Afghanistan past 2016

The commanders said the decision came about because of a fragile security situation highlighted by the Taliban's capture of the northern city of Kunduz this week as well as recent militant inroads in the south.

Keeping any substantial number of troops in Afghanistan beyond next year would mark a sharp departure from President Barack Obama's existing plan, which would leave only an embassy-based security cooperation presence of about 1,000 military personnel by the end of next year. 

Military hearing on Bergdahl desertion charges begins

Legal experts said they expected Bergdahl's lawyers to argue during the Article 32 hearing that his years of being held captive by the Taliban were punishment enough. 

The hearing to determine if he will face a court-martial is taking place at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where Bergdahl has been stationed since returning to the U.S. last year.

Taliban insurgents raid Afghan prison and free inmates

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, deputy provincial governor of Ghazni, said Monday that insurgents wearing military uniforms launched a well-organized attack to free the inmates.

Ahmadi says the attack was started by a suicide bomber that then allowed other insurgents to get inside the compound.

He says four police guards were killed and seven others were wounded, and that three insurgents were also killed in the early morning battle.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack on the Ghazni prison in an email sent to the media.