Gunmen opened fire on a memorial ceremony Friday in Kabul, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens more in the first major attack in the Afghan capital since the U.S. signed a peace framework with the Taliban late last week. Several prominent politicians, including the country’s chief executive and recent presidential candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, were in the audience but escaped unharmed.

A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of the Interior said the gunmen retreated to a nearby building, where they were killed during an hours-long standoff with security forces.

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The U.S. and the Taliban have struck a deal that paves the way for eventual peace in Afghanistan. U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and the head of the militant Islamist group, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, signed the potentially historic agreement Saturday in Doha, Qatar, where the two sides spent months hashing out its details.

Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. commits to withdrawing all of its military forces and supporting civilian personnel, as well as those of its allies, within 14 months. The drawdown process will begin with the U.S. reducing its troop levels to 8,600 in the first 135 days and pulling its forces from five bases.

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Fighting between Burma Army and Karen soldiers in northern Karen State forced hundreds of villagers from their home into jungle hideouts while the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is touring Karen State.

Ceasefire violations by Burma Army had caused tensions with Karen National Liberation Army soldiers in its 5th Brigade area in Mutraw [Papun] district in the northern Karen State. As many as 300 villagers were driven from their homes by Burma Army shelling. A local Karen National Union leader estimated another 2,000 more villagers are on the brink of running to escape the fighting.

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A seven-day “reduction in violence” between the US and the Afghan Taliban has begun, officials say.

“This is an important step on a long road to peace,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday.

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At least 19 children were wounded when a primary school was hit by shelling in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a lawmaker and a military spokesman said on Thursday (Feb 13).

Clashes between government troops and ethnic insurgents have intensified in Rakhine, from where tens of thousands of people have been displaced since clashes began in December 2018, bringing new chaos to the region from which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in 2017.

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