Bomb wounds 16 in eastern Afghan city

Published August 4, 2013
— File photo
— File photo

JALALABAD: A bomb attack wounded 16 people Sunday in an eastern Afghan city hit a day earlier by a deadly suicide blast targeting the Indian consulate, officials said.

The remote-controlled device exploded in Jalalabad as a vehicle passed carrying state prosecutor Abdul Qayoom, local government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told AFP.

The powerful explosion in the city centre wounded Qayoom, his driver and four guards and 10 civilians, Abdulzai said.

A doctor at the city's main hospital said 16 people with bomb injuries were admitted and the condition of four, including the prosecutor, was “very serious”.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, which followed a deadly suicide attack on the Indian consulate in the same city on Saturday which killed nine civilians, most of them children studying the Koran in a nearby mosque.

That attack, a car bombing, remains unclaimed as the Taliban denied involvement soon afterwards.

The Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies are behind most of the bombings which have plagued life in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Islamists from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

The militants often deny attacks that cause high number of civilian casualties and exaggerate attacks on military targets.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a “proxy war” in Afghanistan between India and its arch-rival Pakistan.

New Delhi reacted to the consulate attack with thinly-veiled criticism of Pakistan for failing to crack down on militants and their safe havens along its western border.

Pakistan for its part condemned the attack and expressed sympathy for the victims late Saturday, but a statement from the foreign office made no reference to the Indian consulate.

The Haqqani network, a Pakistan-based group allied with the Taliban and closely associated with the Pakistani intelligence service, was blamed for earlier attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

Opinion

Editorial

Mixed signals
Updated 28 Dec, 2024

Mixed signals

If Imran wants talks to yield results, he should authorise PTI’s committee to fully engage with the other side without setting deadlines.
Opaque trials
Updated 28 Dec, 2024

Opaque trials

Secretive trials, shielded from scrutiny, fail to provide the answers that citizens deserve.
A friendly neighbour
28 Dec, 2024

A friendly neighbour

FORMER Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh who passed away on Thursday at 92 was a renowned economist who pulled ...
Desperate measures
Updated 27 Dec, 2024

Desperate measures

Sadly in Pakistan, street protests and sit-ins have become the only resort to catch the attention of a callous power elite.
Economic outlook
27 Dec, 2024

Economic outlook

THE post-pandemic years, marked by extreme volatility in the global oil and commodity markets as well as slowing...
Cricket and visas
27 Dec, 2024

Cricket and visas

PAKISTAN has asserted that delay in the announcement of the schedule of next year’s Champions Trophy will not...