![This photograph taken August 25 shows a house destroyed in a Taliban attack in Balkh District, Balkh Province. [209th Shaheen Corps]](/cnmi_st/images/2020/08/25/25705-balkh-739_416.webp)
MAZAR-E-SHARIF -- A Taliban-claimed suicide attack killed at least three people in Balkh Province on Tuesday (August 25) as neighbouring Pakistan pushed for delayed peace talks to begin.
The suicide bomber detonated explosives in a truck near an Afghan National Army (ANA) base in Balkh District, Balkh Province, said Mohammad Hanif Rezayee, a spokesman for the ANA's 209th Shaheen Corps based in Mazar-e-Sharif.
The attack was revenge for a video circulating online that appeared to show Afghan troops desecrating the bodies of Taliban soldiers in the south, said Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid on Twitter.
The Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into the video, which surfaced earlier this month.
The assault August 25 killed two civilians and a commando and wounded more than 40 others, Rezayee said. Many houses were damaged or destroyed and soldiers were helping to get the victims to safety, he added.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed the attack.
It comes as the Pakistani government is meeting key Taliban negotiators in Islamabad to push for peace talks in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has said negotiations are the only way forward in Afghanistan and sees its role as a "facilitator".
The Taliban and the Afghan government had signalled they were prepared to launch negotiations immediately after Eid ul Adha, which ended earlier this month, but the process remains bogged down over a controversial prisoner swap.
It is a matter of shame for a world super power like America to praise a big terror-supporting country (Pakistan), and thinks that the terrorist country is trying to bring peace in Afghanistan. America has to hold responsible the terrorist army of Pakistan for assassination of tens of thousands of Afghan forces and American and NATO forces because they were killed by the Taliban who are supported by Pakistan. America should not give time to Pakistan to play on the greatness of Afghanistan and America any more.
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These are the poor civilians who always fall victims to Taliban’s war. In this attack also most of the civilians were killed and wounded, and many houses of the civilians were destroyed. The economy of the people of Afghanistan is very weak, and in every explosion and war these poor people sustain losses. All military bases and headquarters should be transferred far from the people’s homes so that civilians do not get harmed during attacks and explosions.
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