Suicide car blast kills 13 in Jalalabad

JALALABAD (PAN): Thirteen people were killed and 21 others wounded when a suicide attacker rammed his explosives-packed car into a bus carrying police cadets in Jalalabad city, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, on Wednesday, officials said.

The attack took place near a police training academy on the Jalalabad-Torkham highway at about 5:00pm, the governor’s spokesman, Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said 13 people had been killed and 21others wounded in the blast. However, he did not specifically say how much cadets and civilians were killed and wounded.

JalalabadCivil Hospitaldirector, Dr. Baaz Mohammad Sherzad, confirmed receiving 13 dead bodies and 21 injured people at the hospital, with a number of them in a critical condition.

Six nearby cars and a shop were destroyed in the blast, Babarak, an eyewitness, said.

The Taliban fighters have asserted responsibility for the attack.

Rebel spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said 25 police cadets and two civilians were killed in the attack and five others were wounded.

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