12 killed in suicide attack on Afghan security forces: officials

A suicide attack in Afghanistan Tuesday killed at least 12 people and ignited a nearby petrol station, officials said, with witnesses describing screaming victims “swallowed” by flames in the latest deadly violence to hit the country.

The bomber was targeting Afghan security forces when he blew himself up in the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

Ten civilians were among the dead and at least five people were wounded in the blast, the provincial governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.

“I saw three people who had caught fire and were screaming,” Ibrahim, who was sitting inside his shop at the time of the attack, told AFP. “As I ran to help them, the fire swallowed them. I couldn’t help them and I ran to save myself.”

Some of the victims were brought to hospital with severe burns, health director Najibullah Kamawal said, confirming the casualty toll.

“I saw a big ball of fire that threw people away. The people were burning,” Esmatullah, who witnessed the incident, told AFP.

Haji Ali Khan told AFP he counted at least eight cars alight and “seven people who had been burned in the fire.”

Tolo News posted a video online showing several burned-out vehicles and gutted shops purportedly at the scene of the attack.

The Islamic State group claimed the attack via its Amaq propaganda agency – the latest carried out by the extremists in restive Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan. IS has claimed a series of high-casualty suicide bomb attacks in the province in recent weeks, as US and Afghan forces continue offensive operations against the group.

While the Taliban is Afghanistan’s largest militant group, IS has a relatively small but potent presence, mainly in the east and north of the country.

Tuesday’s attack comes a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed “hope” for peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban, during an unannounced visit to Kabul.