Afghan police officers inspect the site of a suicide attack on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Afghanistan December 31, 2017.REUTERS/Parwiz
December 31, 2017
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A suicide attack at a funeral in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday killed at least 15 people and wounded 13, the governor’s spokesman said.
Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the attacker had blown himself up as people gathered for the funeral of a former district governor at a cemetery in the city.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which comes days after at least 41 people were killed and more than 80 wounded in a suicide attack on a Shi’ite cultural center in Kabul on Thursday.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack, one of the worst in the Afghan capital in months.
Backed by intensive U.S. air strikes, Afghan forces have claimed growing success against the Taliban and other militant groups, including Islamic State, but attacks on civilian targets have continued, causing heavy casualties.
(Reporting by Ahmad Sultan and Rafiq Sherzad; writing by James Mackenzie; editing by Gareth Jones)
