Cold weather kills 20 in north Afghanistan; 2 die in attacks

AP , Friday 25 Nov 2016

Afghan officials say cold weather and freezing temperatures have killed 20 people, mostly children in a remote northern Afghan province bordering Turkmenistan.

Provincial police chief Rahmatullah Turkistani says the deaths occurred this week in Jawzjan province's district of Darzab, which has seen heavy snowfall, with half a meter, or almost two feet of snow on the ground.

The area has no electricity or medical facilities and the road has been cut off by the Taliban. Authorities are waiting for the weather to clear up before delivering aid by air.

Elsewhere, a roadside bombing on Friday in Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar killed a policeman while a mortar shell struck a weeding party the previous night in Laghman province, killing a child.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for those attacks.

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