U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

The U.S. drone strike was intended to hit an Islamic State hideout in Afghanistan.

But instead it killed at least 30 civilians resting after a day's labor in the fields.

The attack Wednesday (September 18) night also injured another 40 people after accidentally targeting farmers and laborers.

They'd just finished collecting pine nuts in eastern Afghanistan.

A tribal elder said the workers had lit a bonfire and were sitting together when a drone targeted them.

A senior U.S official in Kabul confirmed the drone strike, but did not share details of civilian casualties.

Jihadist IS fighters first appeared in Afghanistan in 2014 - the U.S estimates there are around 2,000 Islamic State fighters in country.

There's been no let-up in assaults by Taliban and IS as Afghanistan prepares for a presidential election this month.

At least 20 people died in a Taliban truck bomb in southern Afghanistan Thursday (September 19).

Casualties are expected to rise as rescuers sift the rubble.

The militants wanted to target a training base for Afghanistan's powerful National Directorate of Security.

But parked the vehicle full of explosives outside a hospital gate nearby, a defense ministry source said.

The Taliban have been carrying out nearly daily attacks since the collapse of peace talks with the U.S. this month.