An ISIS suicide bomber killed 15 people in the northern Afghan province of Sar-e Pul on Tuesday, including a Taliban commander, the provincial governors office said. The attack, in Sayyad district of Sar-e Pul, followed reports from local officials of fighting between ISIS and Taliban militants in other northern provinces over recent days. "Two Daesh fighters entered a Taliban commanders house where a ceremony was underway and opened fire," said Zabihullah Amani, spokesman for the Sar-e-Pul governors office said, using a term widely used for ISIS. He said 15 Taliban were killed and another five wounded. Meanwhile, a government commando unit freed 54 people from a Taliban jail in southern Helmand province according to officials. The stepped-up activity in Afghanistan comes as Washington considers a Taliban demand for direct talks in hopes of jump-starting a negotiated end to what is now the longest military engagement by US forces. A Taliban official in Qatar told The Associated Press they wanted direct talks and were ready to put troop withdrawal as well as any outstanding concerns the US might have on the table but so far no official request to open negotiations has come from Washington. Speaking on condition he not be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, he said de-listing Taliban leaders from U.S and U.N. watch lists and recognizing their office in Doha, the Qatar capital, would aid progress in talks should they begin. Meanwhile, in northern Afghanistans Sar-i-Pul province, Abdul Qayuom Baqizoi, provincial police chief, said Tuesdays attack by ISIS took place as village elders met with Taliban officials. The Taliban and the ISIS group have been waging bitter battles in recent days in northern Afghanistan. As many as 100 insurgents from both the Taliban and ISIS have perished in recent battles, said Baqizoi. Provincial council chief Mohammed Noor Rahman, however, said the explosion occurred in a mosque as a funeral was taking place. The area is remote and it was impossible to reconcile the differing accounts. Elsewhere, in southern Helmands Musa Qala district, a commando unit stormed into a jail late Monday that Taliban insurgents had been operating. There they found 32 civilians, 16 police, four soldiers and two military doctors, said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor. The Taliban did not immediately comment on the raid, but the insurgents are in control of the majority of the districts in Helmand, where they have increased their attacks against provincial officials and security forces. Separately, Taliban fighters attacked three checkpoints of the Afghan border forces in the southern province of Kandahar, killing nine members of the security forces and suffering 25 killed themselves, Kandahar police spokesman Zia Durani said. The Taliban have long refused direct talks with the Afghan government, demanding instead to negotiate with the US. The militants maintained that position despite Afghan President Ashraf Ghanis unilateral extension of a holiday cease-fire last month in hopes of encouraging the militants to come to the bargaining table. When the Taliban continued to mount deadly attacks, Ghani ordered government forces to resume military operations this month. Trump administration officials said Monday for the first time that the US would be open to holding direct talks with the Taliban to encourage negotiations between the militant group and the Afghan government to end 17 years of war. They said that Afghan-to-Afghan negotiations remain the goal of any engagement with the militants, however. That marks a tactical shift by the administration, which previously only appeared willing to participate in discussions with the Taliban if those talks also involved the Afghan government. The officials were not authorized to speak to media and requested anonymity. The unprecedented, three-day cease-fire by both sides had offered a rare glimpse of peace for Afghans during which militants fraternized with security force members. The US invaded Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and ousted the Taliban government that had hosted al-Qaida. It still has about 15,000 troops in Afghanistan, mostly for training government forces.