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Bombing at Afghan funeral

September 4, 2012

A suicide bomber has killed at least 20 people who were attending a funeral near eastern Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Among dozens also injured was a district governor who had opposed insurgents in the area.

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A man who was injured in a suicide bomb attack at a funeral in Dur Baba district, is rushed to a hospital in Ghanikhel district, of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, 04 September 2012.
Afganistan Anschlag auf BeerdigungImage: picture alliance / dpa

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but, according to the interior ministry, Tuesday's bombing in the Nangarhar province was carried out by the Taliban.

The ministry added that Haji Hamesha Gul, the district governor, was likely the target of the bombing in the remote Dur Baba district.

"We have at least 25 innocent people martyred and more than 65 others wounded," said Gul's spokesman, Ahmadzia Abdulzai, in quotes carried by Reuters. Other reports put the number injured at 50.

Abdulzai added that the funeral was for one of Gul's relatives, and said that Gul's son had been killed in the attack.

The interior ministry is reporting a slightly lower figure of 20 dead, but has said some people were critically wounded and the death toll could rise.

On Saturday, a twin suicide bomb attack targeting a NATO base in the eastern province of Wardak killed 12 people, eight civilians and four policemen.

A report by the United Nations says that in the first half of 2012, 1,145 civilians were and an additional 1,954 injured across Afghanistan. The UN said 80 percent of the deaths could be blamed on the Taliban.

mz/ipj (Reuters, AFP, dpa)