An Afghan police guard was killed on Friday when a UN compound in the western city of Herat was attacked, officials said, as fighting raged between government forces and the Taliban.
Violence has surged across Afghanistan since May, when the Taliban launched an offensive and US-led foreign forces began their withdrawal.
The militants seized dozens of districts. In Herat province, they have captured two border crossings into Iran and Turkmenistan.
Unconfirmed local reports say the Afghan army has been supported by US air strikes around Herat, although the fledgling Afghan air force is known to be active over the battlefield and the US issued no statement about whether it was involved in the battle.
On Friday, the fighting in Herat city forced dozens of families to flee, residents said, as the insurgents advanced.
The UN's main compound was hit by rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, a statement issued by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) said.
"This attack is deplorable and we condemn it in the strongest terms," said Deborah Lyons, the UN Secretary General's special representative for Afghanistan.
"The perpetrators of this attack must be identified and brought to account."
Unama said the attack was carried out by "anti-government elements".
But it said the area was the scene of heavy fighting between the Taliban and government forces.
The US said it "strongly condemned" the attack.
"The United Nations in Afghanistan is a civilian entity focused on supporting peace efforts, promoting the rights of all Afghans and providing humanitarian and development assistance," said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, urging the Afghan government and Taliban to resume peace talks.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres repeated the UN's "commitment to support the government and people of Afghanistan in their efforts to achieve peace and stability".
Concern for diplomatic missions
The Taliban said they would not single out foreign diplomats, but they have breached international protocol.
When the hardliners seized control of Kabul in 1996, they entered the UN compound and abducted the country's former leader, Najibullah Ahmadzai, who was tortured and murdered.
Two years later, after they established control over much of Afghanistan, Taliban fighters entered the Iranian consulate grounds in Mazar-i-Sharif and killed 10 diplomats and a journalist with the state news agency.
The EU delegation to Kabul blamed the Taliban for the attack on the UN compound in Herat.
"The Taliban have to account for the crime which will be considered an attack against all of us. It is contrary to all assurances given," ambassador Andreas Von Brandt, head of the EU delegation, wrote on Twitter.
For two days, the insurgents and government forces have clashed on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, with 600,000 inhabitants.
AFP reported that the Taliban and Afghan forces were also fighting on the road leading to the city airport on Friday, while residents reported clashes in the districts of Injil and Guzara.
"People there are terrified," said Abdul Ansari, who fled to the city from Guzara.
"The fighting is heavy but they have not captured the district of Guzara so far," said Mohammad Allahyar, who also sought shelter in Herat.
Afghan forces and militiamen of veteran warlord and anti-Taliban commander Ismail Khan were reported around the city in recent days.
Mr Khan, who fought the Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s and the Taliban in the 1990s, has vowed to fight the insurgents again.
Fighting has also raged in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar since Thursday.
In Helmand, the Taliban attacked the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah from several directions on Thursday, police officer Daud Shah said.
He said the insurgents fired on police checkpoints but were repelled by strikes carried out by the Afghan Air Force.
At least 33 people were wounded in fighting in the past 24 hours across Kandahar province, hospital authorities said.
In a tweet, Unama expressed concerns around "escalating violence" in and around Kandahar city, and said there were "credible reports of civilians killed".
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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Veere di Wedding
Dir: Shashanka Ghosh
Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania
Verdict: 4 Stars
MATCH INFO
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 12’) Liverpool 1 (Minamino 73’)
Arsenal win 5-4 on penalties
Man of the Match: Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal)
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Palestine and Israel - live updates
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RESULTS
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Confirmed%20bouts%20(more%20to%20be%20added)
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Poacher
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
