More than 120 may be dead after Taliban suicide attacker rams captured US Humvee into Afghan troop compound
- Reports of the death toll varied widely, with military officials forbidding discussion of the incident in Wardak Province
On Monday, a Taliban suicide bomber in a captured US Humvee crashed through the entrance to a provincial training compound of the Afghan intelligence service, followed by several gunmen.
The attack left scores of trainees and others dead and wounded, and some officials put the death toll as high as 126.
At the same time, Taliban representatives were meeting with foreign diplomats in Qatar, part of a US-initiated push to start peace talks and reach a settlement to the 17-year insurgent conflict.
Even as a Taliban spokesman said its forces had killed 190 in the Wardak province attack, he said in an email to journalists that talks in Qatar would continue.
Although the simultaneous massacre and olive branch might seem contradictory, Afghan and foreign experts said they are more likely part of a deliberate dual strategy.
It is believed to be aimed in part at increasing insurgent leverage in peace talks and at keeping morale high among hard-line Islamist fighters while unarmed Taliban emissaries converse with the enemy.