The Afghan government said it would participate in two separate U.S.- and Russian-backed peace conferences with the Taliban, a day after a car bomb in the west of the country killed at least 8 people.
At least eight people were killed and over 50 men, women and children were injured by a car bomb that exploded near a police station in the western Herat province of Afghanistan. Most of the dead and injured in the Friday evening blast were civilians, according to Al Jazeera.
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No group claimed responsibility for the explosion, which damaged several homes and shops in a crowded part of the city, Reuters reported. Local officials accused the Taliban.
On Saturday, the Afghan government said it would participate in a Russian-backed peace conference later this week and in one sponsored by the United States in Turkey next month, Reuters reported.
Foreign troops are scheduled to withdraw from Afghanistan on May 1.
The United Nations Security Council in a statement Friday condemned “in the strongest terms the alarming number of attacks deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan. The members of Security Council called for an immediate end to those targeted attacks and stressed the urgent and imperative need to bring the perpetrators to justice.”