Suicide blast kills 13 in Afghanistan
At least 13 killed, several injured after suicide bomber detonates explosives inside house of local politician
Afghan soldiers inspect the site of a suicide bombing in Jalabad, Afghanistan
At least 13 people have been killed and 14 wounded after a suicide bomber disguised as a guest detonated explosives inside the house of an influential family in an eastern Afghanistan, officials said, in the second deadly attack in the eastern Afghan city in less than a week.
Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial statement, said the attacker detonated his explosives at the residential compound of Obaidullah Shinwari, a member of the Nangarhar’s provincial council and whose family is active in local and national politics.
Among the wounded was Shinwari's father, Malik Osman Shinwari, a prominent tribal elder and a fierce critic of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, said Khogyani.
The family was celebrating a son's release from Taliban captivity when the suicide bomber struck.
"Thirteen people were killed and 14 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted the house of Shinwari," said a statement from the governor of Nangarhar province/
“The number of casualties is likely to increase because there were so many people there,” Khyogani said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the Sunday attack, but Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the group was not responsible for Sunday's attack.
The attack came just days after a deadly assault on the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad, close to Shinwari's compound, that was claimed by ISIL.
The bombing is the latest deadly attack in the city since Wednesday, when ISIS claimed responsibility for a four-hour gun and bomb siege targeting the Pakistani consulate.
All three attackers and seven security forces were killed in the assault, the first major ISIS attack in an Afghan city and on a Pakistani government installation.
Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, has seen the number of threats and attacks rise in recent months as the presence of IS grows in the region.
Gunmen affiliated with IS have fought fierce battles with the Taliban, with IS taking control of at least four districts on the province's border with Pakistan.
The attack comes a day ahead of a second round of high-level talks aimed at eventually brokering a peace deal between Kabul and the Taliban, who have been fighting for more than 14 years.
