Afghan officials says 31 killed in Ghazni explosion

Afghan officials said 31 soldiers were killed and and 24 others were wounded in attack in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province on Sunday,

The attacker drove a military Humvee full of explosives onto an army commando base before detonating the car bomb, according to an official in Afghanistan’s National Security Council.

The official spoke anonymously because he was not permitted to speak directly to the media.

Ghazni provincial health department chief, Zahir Shah Nikmal, also confirmed the death toll and casualty figures from the attack.

Afghanistan's Defence Ministry released a statement claiming 10 soldiers were killed and nine wounded.

The ministry also offered a different account of what happened than the official at the National Security Council, saying the vehicle exploded near the army base after security forces opened fire on the car.

It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

It comes as Afghan government representatives and the Taliban hold face-to-face talks in Qatar for the first time to end the country's decades-long war.