12 die in Taliban car bomb attack

KABUL, July 07 (Agencies): The Taliban carried out a devastating suicide car bombing in central Afghanistan on Sunday that killed 12 people and wounded over 150 others, said Afghan officials.

The attack came as an all-Afghan peace conference, which includes the Taliban, were underway Sunday in Doha in an effort to end to the country's relentless wars.

A provincial council member, Hasan Raza Yousafi, said the car bomb ripped through central Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name. The dead included eight security personnel, he said.

Many of the wounded were students of a nearby high school, said the provincial health department chief, Zahir Shah Nekmal. He said most of the injured suffered cuts and abrasions from broken glass.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed claimed responsibility for the suicide attack saying the target was the intelligence service's compound in Ghazni. He said the bombing killed tens of intelligence employees. The Taliban often exaggerate such claims.

Meanwhile, U.S. Peace Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad hailed the intra-Afghan talks underway in Doha as a good first step toward substantive negotiations between Afghans on a framework for the country's future.

Meanwhile, dozens of powerful Afghans including bitter rivals met with the Taliban in Doha on Sunday, amid separate talks between the US and the insurgents seeking to end 18 years of war.

Stakes are high for both sets of talks. Washington has said it wants to seal a political deal with the Taliban ahead of Afghan presidential polls due in September to allow foreign forces to begin to withdraw.

Security was tight at the luxury hotel hosting the intra-Afghan summit as around 70 delegates, who were required to surrender their phones, ushered into the hall and sat in a vast semi-circle facing a large video screen and the hosts from Qatar and Germany.

"Gathered around the table today are some of the brightest minds representing a cross-section of Afghan society," said Markus Potzel, Germany's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as he opened the gathering.

"Each of you will have a unique opportunity and a unique responsibility to find ways of turning violent confrontation into a peaceful debate."

Taliban negotiator Abbas Stanikzai had a brief altercation with a security guard as he attempted to enter the secure conference area.

"We want to go to the dialogue but they are not letting us," Stanikzai said to an officer who replied "we are not joking with you, stop shouting at us".

But he and the rest of the Taliban delegation, which included Suhail Shaheen, the group's Doha office spokesman, took their seats in the expansive ballroom shortly before the talks began at 0630 GMT.

The Qatar foreign ministry special envoy on counterterrorism Mutlaq al-Qahtani said: "We are so happy to see all our Afghan brothers and sisters meeting here in Doha."

"We want a roadmap for the future of Afghanistan," he told reporters after the hosts left the Afghan parties with mediators to begin discussions.

The so-called intra-Afghan dialogue follows six days of direct US-Taliban talks that have been put on hold for the two day Afghan conference and are set to resume Tuesday, according to both sides.

US lead negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad said Saturday that the latest round of US-Taliban talks "have been the most productive of the rounds we've had with the Talibs".

"Essentially the four items we have been talking about ever since we started (are) terrorism, withdrawal of foreign troops, inter-Afghan negotiations and dialogue, and ceasefire," Khalilzad told AFP.

"For the first time I can say we have had substantive discussions, negotiations, and progress on all four issues."

Shaheen, the Taliban spokesman in Qatar, said they were "happy with progress… We have not faced any obstacles yet".

Leading figures are attending the separate intra-Afghan talks, including political heavyweights, government officials, at least six women and other Afghan stakeholders.