Accessibility links

Breaking News

Bombing Kills At Least 17 At Funeral In Eastern Afghan City

update

Smoke rises from a bomb blast during a funeral ceremony in Jalalabad on December 31.
Smoke rises from a bomb blast during a funeral ceremony in Jalalabad on December 31.

A bombing has killed at least 17 people at a funeral in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.

The spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar Province, Attaullah Khogyani, told RFE/RL that 13 others were injured in the December 31 blast, which ripped through a crowd of people who had gathered for the funeral of a former governor in the Haska Meena district.

Noor Ahmad Habibi, deputy spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said initial reports were that a suicide bomber was behind the attack but that authorities now believe it was a remotely detonated explosion hidden in a motorcycle.

No one immediately claimed responsible for the attack.

The Taliban denied any involvement. An Islamic State affiliate is active in Nangarhar Province and has targeted officials and security forces in the past.

It follows multiple bomb blasts on December 28 at a Shi'ite cultural center in the capital, Kabul, that left at least 41 people dead and more than 80 wounded.

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for that attack.

XS
SM
MD
LG