Officials: Separate attacks kill 8 people in Afghanistan

 A string of attacks on Tuesday in Afghanistan killed four government employees and four policemen, officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

In the capital, Kabul, gunmen opened fire in the Bagh-e Daud neighborhood and killed four employees of the ministry for rural development, according to Ferdaws Faramarz, spokesman for the city's police chief.

The police are investigating, he said. Elsewhere in Kabul, a sticky bomb attached to a car exploded, wounding another government employee, he added.

Also Tuesday, four police officers were killed and a fifth was wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in western Herat province's Zenda Jan district, said Wahid Qatali, the provincial governor.

Violence in Afghanistan has been relentless while peace talks between the Taliban and government representatives that have been underway in Qatar for months have now stalled. There has also been a nationwide spike in bombings, targeted killings and violence on the battlefield.

The Islamic State group has also increased its attacks in Kabul lately. Most recently, it claimed responsibility for the bombing targeting minority Sikhs on Saturday in the Afghan capital. Two members of the Sikh community were killed in the blast, which struck a store in central Kabul.

With growing threats from IS, Afghanistan's once-thriving community of Sikhs and Hindus has dwindled from as many as 250,000 members to fewer than 700. Last March, a lone IS gunman rampaged through a Sikh house of worship in the heart of Kabul, killing 25 worshippers and wounding eight. (AP) RS RS