More than 100 wounded in blast

THIRTEEN people were killed and 102 others sustained injuries after a car bomb went off near police headquarters in Afghanistan’s western province of Ghor yesterday, the head of the central hospital said.

The blast took place in the provincial capital of Firuzkoh.

Along with the police headquarters, judiciary offices, the women’s affairs department and a number of government agencies were located in the blast area.

The hospital’s chief, Mohammad Omar Lalzad, said some of those who were admitted to hospital were in a critical condition.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Over the week, the province’s capital had been witness to violent clashes between the security forces and Taliban militants after skirmishes broke out.

The US and the Taliban – Afghanistan’s major armed opposition movement – signed a peace deal in February that paved the way for reducing violence in the country, a gradual troop withdrawal and for intra-Afghan talks that started in Qatar earlier this month.