12 killed following an air strike in Takhar, Afghanistan

At least 12 people, mostly children, were killed and 14 injured in an air strike on a mosque in Afghanistan's northern Takhar province, officials said on Thursday.

Hadi Jamal, an Afghan military spokesman, confirmed the air strike on Wednesday evening but said it was "not clear if the attack had accidentally killed civilians and children" and an investigation had been launched.

The strike took place in the Baharak district of Takhar, about 15 kilometres from province's main city of Taloqan, where Taliban fighters had killed more than 40 members of the Afghan security forces early in the morning, provincial councillor Mohammad Azam Afzali told DPA.

An aircraft bombarded the mosque after receiving information that Taliban fighters who were involved in the attack were hiding there, Mr Afzali said.

Abdul Qayoom Hayrat, head of the provincial health department in Takhar, said 10 members of the Afghan special forces were among those killed in the militants' attack.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed the insurgents were engaged in fighting with government forces in Takhar.

The attack in Takhar came after more than a week of heavy fighting between the Taliban and government forces in southern Afghanistan in which more than 100 civilians died and tens of thousands of people were driven from their villages.

The insurgents have continued to launch attacks despite starting peace talks with the government. Experts say long, tough negotiations could be necessary before a truce is reached.
The talks in the Qatari capital Doha are being held after the United States and Taliban signed an agreement in February to promote a negotiated end to the 19-year-old conflict. Talks between the insurgents and the US-backed government were launched more than a month ago in Doha, but the process has been slow and has yet to yield any major developments amid continued violence. Diplomats and officials said this was sapping the trust required for the talks to succeed.

A Taliban assault by the militants in the southern province of Helmand forced nearly 40,000 civilians to flee their homes this month, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

"Disruptions in telecommunications, the threat of improvised explosive devices, and the continued closure of the highway between Kandahar and Helmand following the destruction of several bridges are adding to the challenges," said Caroline Van Buren, the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan.