Afghan government helicopters on Tuesday killed two children, ages 10 and 12, and wounded at least two others while bombarding a village in the eastern Ghazni province, Afghan officials and local witnesses said. The fighting comes as Afghan government representatives and the Taliban are holding face-to-face talks in Qatar for the first time, in an effort to end the country’s decades-long war. There has been a sharp rise in violence this year and a surge of attacks by the Taliban against Afghanistan’s beleaguered security forces since the start of peace talks in September, in addition to deadly attacks last month claimed by Islamic State militants in Afghanistan. The provincial governor’s spokesman, Wahidullah Jumazada, said two were dead and two wounded, all under the age of 12. But he was not immediately able to confirm what type of explosion killed them. Residents of De-Haji village told The Associated Press that helicopters had struck the village’s mosque, school and residential buildings on Sunday. The witnesses said the two boys were killed in their family’s grocery store, which was housed in a shipping container.
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