Three security personnel killed in Taliban car-bombing near Kabul

By Abdul Qadir Sediqi and Orooj Hakimi

KABUL (Reuters) - A car bombing near Kabul on Sunday killed at least three Afghan security personnel and injured 12 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban.

While attacks have continued unabated in Afghanistan, the insurgent Taliban has rarely taken responsibility since the formal start of peace talks and an agreement with the United States last year.

Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz confirmed the casualties in Sunday's bombing in the Paghman district of Kabul and said the numbers could rise.

The Taliban, in a statement, claimed that 45 Afghan security force members had been killed or injured in the blast.

The insurgent group also issued a warning against what it called continued air strikes in a number of areas of Afghanistan, saying that they violate an agreement between the Taliban and the United States.

That agreement envisages the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan by May 1 in exchange for peace guarantees from the Taliban and peace talks with the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

Sunday's attack comes as Washington looks to inject life into the slow-moving peace talks. It has proposed the holding of a conference in Turkey later this month and the forming of an interim government to include Taliban representatives.

Western capitals have called for a ceasefire by the Taliban, saying that meeting the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline will be difficult if the level of violence does not fall in Afghanistan.

The Taliban last month threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops in Afghanistan if they did not meet the withdrawal deadline.

(Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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