13 dead in attack on Afghan poll rally

jalalabad — At least 13 people were killed in a suicide attack on an Afghan election campaign rally on Tuesday, officials said, in the latest violence ahead of this month’s legislative vote.

The attack is the first suicide assault since campaigning officially kicked off last Friday for the parliamentary elections, preparations for which have already been marred by bloody violence.

More than 40 people were wounded when the militant blew himself up among supporters of candidate Abdul Nasir Mohmmand in the Kama district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, provincial governor spokesman Ataullah Khogyani said.

Mohmmand was alive, Khogyani confirmed, but he did not say if the candidate had been hurt in the blast.

Provincial health director Najibullah Kamawal put the death toll slightly higher at 14.

Some of the wounded were in a critical condition, he said.

An AFP reporter saw numerous ambulances delivering bodies and wounded people to a hospital in the provincial capital of Jalalabad.

Sayed Humayun, who had brought his injured cousin to the medical facility, said scores of people had been inside a hall listening to Mohmmand speak when the bomber struck.

“I heard a big explosion,” Humayun told

“For a while I could not see, I thought I was blinded, but later I saw I was surrounded by bodies and people covered in blood.”

The force of the blast caused the ceiling to collapse on top of the gathering.

“There are still people trapped under the rubble,” Malik Zeerak, who was at the rally, told. —