At least 26 people including children were slaughtered yesterday by Islamic State as police tried to rescue them in Ghor province, central Afghanistan. The jihadists had taken them hostage in an attack that increases concern about the group’s expanding presence as they absorb disaffected Taliban hardliners GETTY IMAGES/AFPTaliban fighters cut the highway between Kabul and Kandahar today as the insurgents launched attacks just west of the capital, severing the main overland link between Afghanistan’s two biggest cities. The incident is a new blow to the beleaguered government of President Ghani, which is struggling to stave off Taliban assaults on five big cities. Many fear that Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Islamist movement, will be next. With security continuing to deteriorate, Islamic State’s presence in the country is growing and its militants kidnapped and slaughtered 26 civilians yesterday, including children, in the central province of Ghor in…

Source: The Times October 26, 2016 15:56 UTC