2 dead, 16 injured in Khost car bomb attack

KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): Two civilians were killed and 16 others, including five policemen, were injured on Wednesday when a car bomb was detonated near a police post in southeastern Khost province, officials said.

The blast involving an explosives-laden van occurred in the Mangal Hada area of Khost City, the provincial capital, around 4:30pm, Khost police chief Col. Faizullah Izzat told Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said initial reports indicated two civilians had been killed and 16 others, including five policemen, injured in the blast. He said two of the wounded policemen were said to be in critical condition.

Eyewitnesses said the explosion also damaged some shops and nearby houses and the area had been cordon off by security forces.     

Elsewhere in Khost, two insurgents, accused of having role in a group attack on a police checkpoint, were detained in the Baak district on Tuesday night.

The pair wanted to plant roadside bombs in the area when they were arrested, said Abdulhi Zazai, the district chief.

He said the two were part of a Tuesday’s group insurgent attack on a border police post in the Alisher district.

A border police officer and five attackers were killed in the incident, according to Governor Abdul Jabar Naeemi.

Border police spokesman Idrees Momand said the attack that involved 250 Taliban fighters was successfully repulsed by the border guards.

Meanwhile, intelligence operatives detained a suicide bomber in the capital of eastern Laghman province before he could reach his target, an official said.

Sarhadi Zwak, the governor’s spokesman, said the bomber was intercepted in the Nalaw area on the outskirts of Mehtarlam.

The bomber’s target was a government office, but security forces had prior information about the possible attack, he said.

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