Suicide Attack Kills at Least 10 in E. Afghanistan

A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle detonated his explosives Saturday near a governor's house in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people.

In initial reports, officials informed that more than 40 others were also injured in the bombing, which occurred in a market in the Asadabad provincial capital early in the morning.

In parallel, witnesses reported that most of victims were civilians and children who were either passing by or playing in the park.

Meanwhile, although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants, who have been waging a 14 year-long bloody militancy in the country, have been blamed for similar attacks in the past.

Relatively, a witness to the blast said that an influential tribal elder, Haji Khan Jan, who led a local uprising against the Taliban in the past, was the target of the attack and was killed.

In the coming week, the Afghan government is due to hold talks with the Taliban. Delegates from Afghanistan, China, the US and Pakistan met in Kabul last week for a fourth round of talks aimed at forming a path back to the nascent peace process, which was interrupted by last summer's announcement that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died.

In a separate development, a drone strike by US-led forces in Afghanistan killed at least three people in the country's eastern Paktika Province.

Paktika is relatively volatile province, where Taliban militants have a not-so-strong presence.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team