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DPA
Kabul
Civilians in Afghanistan have been caught in the crossfire recently, as several were killed, wounded or taken hostage in at least three Afghan provinces, officials said on Saturday.
Unknown gunmen stormed into the house of a former local police commander in southern Kandahar province, killing the father and two relatives of the commander, provincial governor spokesman Bahir Ahmadi said. The commander was able to escape the attack.
The reason behind the attack is not yet clear, Ahmadi said.
In southern Paktiya province, the Taliban took eight people hostage in an attempt to put pressure on the locals so that their relatives cut ties with the government, councillor Janat Khan Samkanai said.
Among the hostages was a son of the district chief, said Samkanai.
Two civilians were also wounded in a Taliban mortar attack in eastern Nangarhar province, according to a provincial spokesman.
Amid the violence, a spokesman for the Afghan Security Council, Javid Faisal, tweeted on Saturday that the Taliban has killed 23 civilians in the past week, and wounded 45 more.  
In the meantime, at least four security forces were killed in a Taliban ambush in southern Uruzgan province, according to deputy provincial governor Mohammad Sadat Nasiri.
A further six were also wounded in the incident that took place in the provincial capital, Trinkot city, Nasiri told dpa.
A magnetic bomb wounded an Afghan Defense City official and his driver in the Afghan capital, Kabul, according to local media reports. DPA could not reach the security officials to verify the incident independently. No group has claimed responsibility.
Despite the attacks, the Taliban has released 17 prisoners in western Ghor province, said a spokesman for the group, Suhail Shaheen.
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12/07/2020
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