Taliban: Explosion kills 9 children in eastern Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The office of a Taliban-appointed governor in eastern Afghanistan says that an explosion near the border with Pakistan killed nine children and wounded four. A statement from the governor’s office says the blast happened on Monday when a cart selling food items struck an old, unexploded mortar shell in the district of Lalopar, in eastern Nagarhar province. No other details were immediately available. The province is the seat of Taliban rivals, the Islamic State group, which has staged several attacks targeting Afghanistan’s new rulers since the Taliban took over the country in mid-August.