(AhlulBayt News Agency) - A suicide bomber on Monday killed at least six people at a gathering of tribal elders in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, with ISIS terrorists claiming the latest direct assault on civilians.
The bomber detonated his explosives as the elders gathered to seek aid for war-displaced families in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province which is a hotbed of ISIS militancy.
The group appears to be intensifying attacks against the government and civilians as Afghan forces step up anti-ISIS operations in Nangarhar.
"Six civilians were killed and six others were wounded in the suicide attack on a gathering of elders in Jalalabad," provincial spokesman Ataullah Khogyani said.
A police spokesman confirmed the toll, adding the wounded had been taken to hospital. The powerful bomb ripped through the facade of the building, leaving it littered with shredded debris.
"Terrorist groups can give people nothing other than destruction, death and fear," President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement, condemning the carnage.
"Terrorists will never succeed in their ominous mission to destroy the country."
The Syria-headquartered ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, adding the bombing left 15 people dead and 25 others wounded.
Insurgent groups in Afghanistan are known to exaggerate battlefield claims.
Taliban fighters are active in Nangarhar, but the province also faces an emerging threat from ISIS terrorists who are making gradual inroads in Afghanistan.
Last week, militants linked to ISIS terrorists abducted and killed around 30 civilians, including children, in the central province of Ghor, raising concerns about the group's expanding presence beyond its eastern stronghold.
ISIS terrorists have been trying to spread the group's footprint beyond Nangarhar, winning over sympathisers, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban on their own turf.
The Afghan government is currently in the middle of an operation against ISIS in Nangarhar.
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source : AFP
Tuesday
1 November 2016
12:21:19 PM
789145
A suicide bomber on Monday killed at least six people at a gathering of tribal elders in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, with ISIS terrorists claiming the latest direct assault on civilians.