'Afghan Taliban will not join peace talks' in Pakistan.

'Afghan Taliban will not join peace talks' in Pakistan. (ET).

The Afghan Taliban announced on Saturday that they would not join peace negotiations, which were to be held in Pakistan.

“We want to categorically announce that neither the Amir-ul-Momineen (commander of faithful) nor the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate has decided to join the talks under the quadrilateral process,” a statement from the Taliban leadership council said.

The formal announcement comes amid diplomatic efforts by Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States to hold direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban groups by the first week of March.

Earlier, a quadrilateral meeting held in Kabul on February 23 decided that talks between the two groups would be held in Pakistan. Further, the Taliban said their political office in Qatar has not yet been approached for talks and that the group’s chief, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, has not allowed anyone to take part in the talks.

Afghan officials had also shared with Pakistan a list of Taliban leaders who they wanted to attend direct talks with. Read the full story here.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks shelved over 3 palestinians killed at Kalandia checkpoint outside Jerusalem.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks shelved over 3 palestinians killed at Kalandia checkpoint outside Jerusalem.HT: Israelmatzav.

Peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators expected on Monday have been shelved after Israeli security forces shot dead three Palestinians during clashes at Kalandiya near Ramallah, a Palestinian official said.

"The meeting that was to take place in Jericho...today was cancelled because of the Israeli crime committed in Qalandiya today," the official told AFP, referring to the refugee camp where the clashes erupted before dawn.

Security forces who arrived in Kalandiya near Ramallah to arrest a security suspect came under a  large scale attack by hundreds of Palestinians on Monday morning, resulting in deadly clashes in which three rioters were reportedly killed.

An IDF force protecting the Border Police unit making the arrest felt that the lives of security forces were under threat, and opened fire at their attackers, the IDF said.

Video images from the scene showed two IDF jeeps being ambushed by Palestinians on rooftops and at street level, hurling large rocks and other heavy items from multiple directions.

The wanted suspect, said by the IDF to be a terrorist, was arrested and taken for questioning.

Offical Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted hospital sources in the West Bank as saying Rubin Zayed, Jihad Aslan and Younis Jamal Jahjouh had been killed in the clashes. An additional fifteen Palestinians were wounded in the incident, according to Palestinian medical sources.

The Police and IDF were investigating the circumstances of the clash.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the "assassination" of the  Kalandiya men and "series of Israeli crimes," Nabil Abu Rudaineh, the spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying by WAFA.

Last week, Israeli security forces killed a young Palestinian man in the West Bank city of Jenin during clashes that broke out there in a pre-dawn raid to arrest suspects involved in terrorist activity. Read the full story here.