Attack on busy market in Afghanistan kills 23

KABUL — A car bombing and mortar shells fired at a busy market in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand Province on Monday killed 23 people, including children, a statement from the provincial governor’s office said.

Both the Taliban and the Afghan military blamed each other for the attack in Sangin district. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, denied that the insurgents were involved in the bombing. The Taliban claimed the military fired mortars into the market, while the military said a car bomb and mortar shells fired by the insurgents targeted the civilians.

The army said there was no military activity in the area on Monday, and that two Taliban fighters were also killed when the car bomb detonated at the marketplace. Sheep and goats for sale in the market were also killed.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the “brutal and inhumane act”.

“The government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan once again calls on the Taliban to refrain from war and violence, and to accept the will of the Afghan people, which is the end of the war and the start of negotiations,” Ghani’s statement said.

The United Nations in recent reports and statements has asked both sides in the conflict to be more careful of civilian casualties, saying they are on the increase.

Save the Children, an aid group, condemned the attack and expressed concern about a recent uptick in violence.

“We’re horrified by the ongoing attacks in Afghanistan, which continue to take the innocent lives of children,” said Milan Dinic, the aid group’s country director, calling the latest attack a “sad reminder that no child is safe in Afghanistan until the weapons are put down”.