AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): At least 15 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a suicide blast at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan, according to the local government, in one of two attacks to hit the country.
The attacker detonated his explosives in the middle of the funeral ceremony in Kuz Kunar district on Tuesday, Atahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said.
Zaher Adel, spokesman for the government hospital in Jalalabad, earlier said 12 bodies had arrived from the blast site and more than 50 people were being treated for injuries.
Some officials spoke of a much higher death toll, however.
Sohrab Qaderi, a member of Nangarhar's provincial council, said the incident had left at least 50 people dead and more than 60 wounded. A member of parliament, Hazrat Ali, survived, he added.
Mourners had gathered for the funeral of the commander of the district's police force, Shaykh Akram, who died of a heart attack on Monday night, when the bomber struck, Khogyani said.
Amir Mohammad, who was wounded in the blast, said thousands of people had gathered for the funeral, an event which often draws huge crowds in Afghanistan.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack.
Battle-weary Nangarhar near the Pakistan border has long been a stronghold for both ISIL (ISIS) and the Taliban and has witnessed some of the hardest fighting in recent years.
Separately, attackers stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of the Afghan capital on Tuesday, setting off a gun battle with police, officials said.
Afghan forces carried out newborn babies and their mothers as they evacuated the hospital. At least four people were reported wounded.
The violence comes just a day after four roadside bombs exploded in a northern district of Kabul, wounding four civilians including a child.
The bombings were later claimed by ISIL, according to the SITE intelligence group.
In March, at least 25 people were killed by a gunman at a Sikh temple in Kabul, which was later claimed by the group.
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source : Al Jazeera
Tuesday
12 May 2020
11:36:57 AM
1036170
At least 15 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a suicide blast at a funeral in eastern Afghanistan, according to the local government, in one of two attacks to hit the country.