At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded Saturday in a mini-truck bomb attack in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, Afghan government officials said.
A government spokesman in Nangarhar told VOA that the blast occurred near a security facility linked to Afghan intelligence agencies and that casualties included security personnel and civilians, with the death toll likely to rise. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning the attack as an “unforgivable crime” committed by militants linked to the Taliban. The statement said, “The Taliban continues to launch terrorist attacks in collaboration with other terrorist organizations, killing civilians and destroying public facilities on a daily basis.”
A spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior also accused the Taliban of orchestrating the violent attack. He said anti-government militants have carried out 650 attacks in the past two Mondays, killing nearly 70 civilians and wounding many others.
Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban rebels are currently holding peace talks in Doha, Qatar, but violence in Afghanistan has continued to increase in recent weeks. Afghanistan and the international community have repeatedly called for a ceasefire pending a political arrangement in the intra-Afghan peace talks, but the Taliban have refused to accept this.
To date, there has been no significant progress in the intra-Afghan peace talks since they began on September 12. Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Government’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, returned to Doha earlier this week to help the parties resolve their differences and move the peace talks forward.
In this regard, Khalilzad noted, “The Afghan people and the international community are watching closely for progress in the negotiations to develop a roadmap for Afghanistan’s political future and for a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”
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