<p class="bodytext">A car bomb attack on an Afghan police special forces base followed by an ongoing gun battle have killed three policemen and wounded dozens of people, officials said Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Militants detonated the car bomb outside the gate of the base in the city of Khost near the Pakistan border early in the morning, a security source said, before trying to storm the compound.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A gun battle between the attackers and security forces was ongoing, officials and an AFP correspondent reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Four attackers have been killed while two more were still fighting, Afghanistan's interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian told reporters.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The assault has so far left three policemen dead and wounded 33 people, including 11 civilians, Sakhi Sardar, a senior official at Khost hospital told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Khost, a restive province, is home to active Taliban and also Al-Qaeda fighters, officials say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Three civilians were killed and ten others were wounded in a separate attack Tuesday when a "sticky bomb" attached to a car exploded near Kabul airport, police spokesman Ferdaws Faramuz said in a statement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Violence has surged across Afghanistan in recent weeks even as the Taliban and Afghan government remain engaged in peace talks to end the country's long-running conflict.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Afghan and US officials have repeatedly warned that the rising bloodshed was threatening the talks being held in Qatar since last month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report released on Tuesday that the number of civilians killed and wounded has failed to slow since the start of peace talks on September 12.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The peace talks will need some time to help deliver peace," UNAMA chief Deborah Lyons said in the report.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"But all parties can immediately prioritise discussions and take urgent, and frankly overdue, additional steps to stem the terrible harm to civilians."</p>.<p class="bodytext">UNAMA, however, said that the overall civilian casualty figure had dropped by around 30 percent in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the corresponding period last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The first nine months of this year saw 2,177 civilians killed and 3,822 wounded, the report said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The majority of the civilian casualties, about 58 percent, were caused by "anti-government elements" like the Taliban and Islamic State group, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Afghan security forces were responsible for 23 percent of all civilian casualties, many killed in air strikes and ground engagements.</p>
<p class="bodytext">A car bomb attack on an Afghan police special forces base followed by an ongoing gun battle have killed three policemen and wounded dozens of people, officials said Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Militants detonated the car bomb outside the gate of the base in the city of Khost near the Pakistan border early in the morning, a security source said, before trying to storm the compound.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A gun battle between the attackers and security forces was ongoing, officials and an AFP correspondent reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Four attackers have been killed while two more were still fighting, Afghanistan's interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian told reporters.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The assault has so far left three policemen dead and wounded 33 people, including 11 civilians, Sakhi Sardar, a senior official at Khost hospital told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Khost, a restive province, is home to active Taliban and also Al-Qaeda fighters, officials say.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Three civilians were killed and ten others were wounded in a separate attack Tuesday when a "sticky bomb" attached to a car exploded near Kabul airport, police spokesman Ferdaws Faramuz said in a statement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Violence has surged across Afghanistan in recent weeks even as the Taliban and Afghan government remain engaged in peace talks to end the country's long-running conflict.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Afghan and US officials have repeatedly warned that the rising bloodshed was threatening the talks being held in Qatar since last month.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report released on Tuesday that the number of civilians killed and wounded has failed to slow since the start of peace talks on September 12.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The peace talks will need some time to help deliver peace," UNAMA chief Deborah Lyons said in the report.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"But all parties can immediately prioritise discussions and take urgent, and frankly overdue, additional steps to stem the terrible harm to civilians."</p>.<p class="bodytext">UNAMA, however, said that the overall civilian casualty figure had dropped by around 30 percent in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the corresponding period last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The first nine months of this year saw 2,177 civilians killed and 3,822 wounded, the report said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The majority of the civilian casualties, about 58 percent, were caused by "anti-government elements" like the Taliban and Islamic State group, it said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Afghan security forces were responsible for 23 percent of all civilian casualties, many killed in air strikes and ground engagements.</p>