Afghan security forces inspect the site of a deadly bombing in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017. Officials say the bombing targeted the funeral of a local official in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 15 people and wounding over a dozen others. (AP Photo/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar)
Republished December 31, 2017 - 6:38 AM
Original Publication Date December 31, 2017 - 2:56 AM
KABUL - A bombing targeted the funeral of a local official in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least 17 people, officials said.
Noor Ahmad Habibi, deputy spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said a rickshaw rigged with explosives went off among people gathered in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, to mourn a former district chief. He said around 13 other people were wounded.
Habibi said initial reports were that a suicide bomber was behind the attack, but that authorities now believe it was a remotely-detonated explosion.
No one immediately claimed the attack. The Taliban denied any involvement. An Islamic State affiliate is active in Nangarhar province and has targeted officials and security forces in the past.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a sticky bomb exploded in a crowded neighbourhood in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif late Saturday, wounding 12 people, according to Gen. Abdul Raziq Qaderi, the deputy provincial police chief.
No one claimed the attack, which took place in a relatively secure part of the country.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017