Morning blood in Afghanistan .. The government killed 30 farmers and the fall of dozens by a bombing of the Taliban

KABUL: Thirty farmers were killed and 40 wounded in an air strike by Afghan security forces in the east of the country, backed by US air support, while the Taliban blew up an intelligence building;

Reuters quoted three government officials as saying that security forces were aiming to destroy a hideout used by ISIS militants, but mistakenly hit farmers near a field.

A member of the provincial council in Nangarhar province, Sohrab Qadri, said a strike by drones killed 30 farmers in a pine field and injured at least 40 others.

The defense ministry in Kabul confirmed the strike, but declined to give details of the casualties.

For his part, the governor of Zabul province killed ten people and wounded ninety others in a car bomb targeting the intelligence building this morning, and destroyed a nearby hospital in the city of Qala (southern Afghanistan).

In an interview with AFP, Governor Rahmatullah Yermal said that "a car bomb targeted the Afghan National Security Department this morning (Thursday)."

"The state hospital in the area was destroyed," he said, adding that "ten people were killed and 85 wounded."

Twenty people were killed in the bombing and another 90 were wounded, Zabul State Council President Atta Jan Haqbian said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a "martyrdom operation against the intelligence department." "We carried out a martyrdom attack against the NDS," he said, stressing that the building was completely destroyed.

The attack took place at around 6 am local time, and residents reported that it shook houses and smashed windows, followed by gunfire.

University student Atef Baloch said the blast was "horrific" and said he saw rescuers pulling women and children from the scene. "I don't remember a deadly explosion like this in my area."

The movement has vowed to target schools that use polling stations, and claimed responsibility on Tuesday for two attacks; one targeted an election rally of President Ashraf Ghani in Parwan province (north of the capital Kabul), while the second attack targeted the headquarters of the Afghan army in the capital.