KABUL (Dispatches) – A bomber killed at least 14 people in Afghanistan on Saturday and fighting between militants and security forces left at least 36 people dead on the first day of Islam's holy Month of Ramadhan.
In eastern Khost province, an attacker detonated a car bomb near a soccer field that is close to a military base, officials said.
At a local hospital, doctors received at least 14 dead bodies and eight wounded people, said Gul Mohammaddin Mangal, head of the public health department in Khost.
"The bodies are not recognizable and it is hard to say if they are civilians or security forces," he said.
According to government authorities, the attack happened around 8:30 am local time after a bomber detonated his explosives while driving a vehicle near a military base and a football field.
The bombing came on the first day of Islam’s holy month of Ramadhan, in which most Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing. But both Taliban and Daesh terrorist groups have been carrying out such attacks in Afghanistan.
In the north-western province of Badghis, militants attacked security forces in Qadis district, sparking fighting that killed 22 insurgents, six security forces, and eight civilians, said Zahir Bahand a spokesman for the provincial governor.
The fighting also left 33 militants and 17 civilians wounded, he said.
The Western-backed Afghan government is battling both Taliban and Daesh terrorists around the country.
Taliban forces have increased their attacks in the weeks before Ramadhan, with a string of strikes in Kandahar, Paktia, and Helmand, among other provinces.
Meanwhile, at least 59 Daesh terrorists were killed during the operations by Afghan security forces, which concluded in the Chaparhar district of the eastern Nangarhar Province on Friday. According to local government authorities, at least 39 more militants were also wounded in the course of the operations and three others were taken into custody.
The operations were launched in Chaparhar district on May 16 and led to the flushing out of the Daesh terrorists from all villages in the district.
Afghanistan has seen militancy by the Taliban since 2001, when a U.S.-led invasion ousted a Taliban regime. The terrorist group of Daesh has also gained a foothold in the country more recently.