News

Actions

Suicide attack hits eastern Afghanistan

Posted
and last updated

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan hospital official says that at least 12 new army recruits have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Ahsanullah Shinwari, head of the Jalalabad hospital, said Monday that 12 bodies have been brought to the hospital in the city, 125 kilometers (77.5 miles) from the capital Kabul.

He said another 38 people were wounded, most of them in critical condition.

All were new army recruits traveling in a bus Monday afternoon, on the outskirts of the Jalalabad — the capital of Nangarhar province.

Initial reports said the attacker was on a motorcycle when he rammed the bus, detonating explosives, according to Ahmad Ali Hazrat, chief of the Nangarhar provincial council.

No group has yet claimed responsibility. Suicide attacks regularly take place in Jalalabad, as a number of anti-government insurgent groups are based in the province.