GARDEZ: A car packed with explosives exploded on Tuesday as it sped through a crowded market in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktika, killing at least 89 people, officials said, one of the most violent attacks in the country in a year.

The huge blast took place not far from the porous border with Pakistan’s North Waziristan region, where the military has been attacking hideouts of terrorists in the past few weeks, prompting militants to retreat towards Afghanistan.

“The number of victims may increase,” said General Zahir Azimi, a defence ministry spokesman.

The military was providing helicopters and ambulances to transport the victims to the provincial capital, Sharan, and 42 wounded had been moved to hospitals there, he said. More than 20 shops and dozens of vehicles were destroyed, he added.

The attack comes at an uneasy time in Afghanistan as the country recounts votes from a disputed presidential election which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt.

But the Afghan Taliban distanced themselves from Tuesday’s attack.

“The truth behind this attack will become clear after an investigation, but we clearly announce that it was not done by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” Zabihullah Mujahid, an Afghan Taliban spokesman, said in a statement. “The Mujahideen do not conduct such attacks and such attacks do not bring any benefit to them.”

He said the Taliban strongly condemned attacks on local people.

A local deputy police chief, Nissar Ahmad Abdulrahimzai, said police had been tipped about the car and were chasing it when it exploded.

“The explosion was so big it destroyed many shops. Dozens of people are trapped under the roofs,” Mohammad Raza Kharoti, the district governor, said. “The number of wounded will rise to more than 100 and the number of those martyred will also increase.”

“There was no military base nearby,” he said.

In Kabul, a remote controlled-bomb concealed by a roadside killed two employees of President Hamid Karzai’s media office and wounded five, police said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility.

The attacks took place as foreign troops are gradually withdrawing from the country. The United Nations said last week civilian casualties jumped by almost a quarter in the first half of this year as hostilities escalate.

The bombing was also the first major attack since a weekend deal between the two Afghan presidential contenders brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry averted a dangerous rift in the country’s troubled democracy following last month’s disputed runoff.

The two candidates, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, met on Tuesday to discuss an agreed-upon audit of last month’s presidential runoff vote, Mr Abdullah’s spokesman Fazel Sancharaki said. The two plan to meet again on Thursday, he added.

Unofficial and disputed results showed Mr Ahmadzai well in the lead, but supporters of Mr Abdullah say that’s only because of widespread fraud. Since fraud was alleged on both sides, the deal provides that every one of the 8 million ballots will be audited under national and international supervision over the next three or four weeks.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014