A group claiming to represent the Islamic State group has reportedly confirmed it was behind Saturday’s suicide bomb attack on a bank in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad that killed at least 33 people.
More than 100 people were also wounded in the attack in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, according to officials.
A spokesman for a group claiming to represent the Islamic State group in Afghanistan claimed responsibility.
Meanwhile, Taliban insurgents issued a statement denying responsibility for the attack. The militants, who were ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, rarely claim attacks that kill large groups of civilians, saying their activities are restricted to foreign or Afghan military and government targets.
“It was an evil act. We strongly condemn it,” the Islamist militants’ spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Reuters.
The attacker detonated an explosive-laden motorcycle, targeting a crowd of both military personnel and civilians who were gathered outside the bank to receive their monthly salaries. The bank branch is located in the heart of a crowded commercial district, said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar province.
“There are reports of many wounded people in critical condition at the hospital,” Abdulzai said.
People rushed to the scene to help the wounded, including one man, Njibullah, who spoke to FRANCE 24.
“I got out of my car when the explosion happened. When I got here there were so many dead and wounded people,” he told FRANCE 24. “All I could do was help my countrymen.”
According to another witness who spoke to FRANCE 24, named Jal, official medical help was not quick to the scene.
“The ambulances took a long time to come and many people died of their injuries,” he said.
Another blast was reported Saturday near a shrine in Jalalabad, but no one was hurt. A third blast was also heard, but it was later reported as a controlled explosion by the Afghan army in Nangarhar, Abdulzai said.
A separate bombing in the Behsud district of Nangarhar province killed one civilian and wounded two others, Abdulzai said, adding that it appears a magnetic bomb was attached to a parked car and then detonated by remote control.
The Pakistani government, which is coordinating with Afghanistan on counter-terrorism issues, condemned the Saturday attacks.
A statement released by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry called the bombings ‘cowardly’ and ‘indiscriminate’, and said attacks against civilians have no justification under any circumstances.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, REUTERS)
