JALALABAD (PAN): Eight civilians were injured when a bomb-rigged motorcycle went off in Jalalabad city, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, late on Wednesday, an official said.

The blast took place near two plazas – Ghaljai and Ishaqzai – in the heart of the city at 7pm, the governor's spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

A caretaker for the Ghaljai plaza said American troops had cordoned off the site. He had no details about casualties.

A senior doctor at the Nangahar civil hospital, Dr. Saiful Rahman, confirmed receiving eight injured people at the hospital, with two of them in a critical condition.

The blast happened 50 metres from the Pajhwok bureau office.

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