Bomber Kills Civilians, Police in Eastern Afghanistan

Date: 14 June 2019 - 21:56

News ID: ۶۶۹۴۸

KABUL (Dispatches) –A bomber has detonated an explosive device near a police vehicle in the capital of eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, killing at least three officers and six civilians, a health official has said.
Another 13 people were wounded, some of them seriously, in the attack in Jalalabad on Thursday, according to Shoaib Sahak, a provincial health department official.
Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said security forces were the target of the attack. Several of the wounded were police officers, he added.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq website.
In recent years, Daesh has established a foothold in eastern and northern Afghanistan. The terrorist group has mostly been populating Nangarhar, from where it has been carrying out attacks at major population centers across the country.
In April, a report suggested that the United States military had been allowing members of Daesh and their weapons into Afghanistan following the terror group's defeats in Syria and Iraq.
Daesh’s rise in Afghanistan comes at a time when the Trump administration is engaged in peace talks with the Taliban militant group.
In recent months, the Taliban have stepped up attacks as part of their so-called spring offensive, rejecting calls by US chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad to lay down arms.
Several round of talks between the US and Taliban recently ended in the Qatari capital Doha, with no tangible progress.
The Taliban have said peace negotiations were stumbling over the fundamental question of when foreign forces would depart the war-ravaged country.
The administration of President Donald Trump is now negotiating with the Taliban in an attempt to discourage the group from attacking American troops.
The Taliban’s five-year rule over at least three quarters of Afghanistan came to an end following the U.S. invasion in 2001. However, 18 years on, Washington is seeking truce with the militants, who still control large swathes of land in the country.

An Afghan patient receives medical treatment at a hospital following an attack in Jalalabad on June 13, 2019.