KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck the home of a tribal elder in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad Sunday morning, killing at least 13 people, an official said. It was the latest attack in the increasingly volatile Nangarhar Province.
The attacker, who at midafternoon had not been identified, targeted the home of Malik Usman Shinwari, the father of two prominent government officials, said Attaullah Khogeyanai, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Mr. Shinwari was injured in the attack, but his wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, people who were present said. He was taken by helicopter to Kabul, the Afghan capital, for treatment.
Najeebullah Kamawal, head of the Nangarhar public health directorate, said at least 14 civilians had been wounded and three were in critical condition.
The attack took place as Mr. Shinwari and visitors celebrated the return of another of his sons, who had been released from Taliban captivity. The bomber infiltrated the gathering and detonated his explosives but fell short of his apparent intended victims, the people who were at the scene said. Mr. Shinwari’s sons Obaidullah, a provincial council member, and Hameedullah, a district mayor, were unharmed, the provincial governor’s office said.
Jalalabad, about 75 miles east of Kabul, is the capital of Nangarhar, a province bordering Pakistan where violence has risen since the departure of American and NATO combat troops at the end of 2014. Besides having to contend with Al Qaeda and a continuing Taliban offensive, Nangarhar is home to the nascent Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said on Twitter that the bombing had “no connection to” the group.
Islamic State militants last week claimed responsibility for an attack near the Pakistani Consulate in Jalalabad that killed at least seven members of the Afghan security forces. A suicide bomber targeted a police vehicle and was followed by gunmen in police uniforms, who holed up in a guesthouse near the consulate and fought government forces.
The United States on Thursday designated the Islamic State affiliate, a splinter group mostly made up of former Afghan and Pakistani Taliban members, as a foreign terrorist organization. Gen. John Campbell, the head of United States and NATO troops in Afghanistan, has warned that the Islamic State is trying to establish a base in Jalalabad.
Militant activity has made it increasingly dangerous to travel the road between Kabul and Jalalabad, a key artery linking Kabul with points in Pakistan.
The violence in Nangarhar is just one security threat facing the government of President Ashraf Ghani. In the southern province of Helmand, government troops, aided by United States Special Forces, have been fighting for months to contain a Taliban offensive that threatens to wrest the region from state control.
In a Twitter message, President Ghani condemned the attack. “Terrorists attack public places & martyr our innocent citizens b/c they fear facing our Security & Defense Forces on the battlefield,” he said. “The government will not enter into peace talks with those who continue the war & shed the blood of our innocent people.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/world/asia/suicide-attack-kills-at-least-13-in-afghanistan.html
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