Government officials in northern Afghanistan say 29 people have been killed and 19 wounded in a militant attack.
Most of the dead were fighters in pro-government militias, killed when a Taliban suicide bomber targeted a gathering in the province of Kunduz.
A wounded Afghan receives treatment at a hospital in Kunduz province Photo: AFP
The militia members killed in the attack at a fuel station included four men said to be key commanders.
The attacks happened in Kunduz, an ethnically mixed and volatile part of the country where the mainly Pashtun Taliban have recently been establishing themselves in local communities far from their southern and eastern heartlands.
The victims are part of an informal uprising against the Taliban that's been underway for several months in the north, much of it under the leadership of former warlords.