Aljazeera, October 3, 2020

Deadly car bomb in Nangarhar kills 15 civilians including 4 kids

At least 15 killed and more than 40 wounded after car bomb hits building in Ghani Khel district, officials say

Civilians including one woman and four children were killed.

At least 15 people have been killed and more than 40 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack that targeted a government building in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, officials said.

There were fears that the death toll could rise after the explosion on Saturday at the entrance of an administrative building that also housed some military facilities in the Ghani Khel district.

“The car bomb detonated at the entrance of the district headquarters building. Several armed attackers tried to enter the building after the attack but were killed by security forces,” the governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP news agency on Saturday.

“As a result, 13 civilians including one woman and four children were killed. Two members of security forces were also killed,” he said.

Forty-two people, including four security forces members, were wounded, Khogyani added.

Provincial police spokesman Farid Khan confirmed the details.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Armed groups such as ISIL (ISIS) and the Taliban have carried out attacks against the Afghan government, national security and defence personnel and civilians.

The attack comes as representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban are engaged in negotiations in the Qatari capital, Doha, to end the country’s decades-long war. The intra-Afghan talks followed a United States-Taliban agreement signed in February in Doha.

Injured children are carried to the hospital following a car bomb attack that targeted a government building.

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