Jalalabad blast causes no casualties

JALALABAD (PAN): An explosion on Monday rocked Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, inflicting no casualties, officials said.

The blast took place at 7am in a garbage area near the Eidgah Mosque, the governor’s spokesman, Ahmad Zai Abdulzai, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The militants planted two bombs in the area to inflict heavy casualties on people, but fortunately the first bomb exploded without causing casualties, while a second was discovered before it could be detonated, said the provincial police chief, Sardar Mohammad Sultani.

The second remote-controlled bomb, placed about 10 meters of the first bomb, was aimed to target security personnel when they gathered at the scene of the first blast, he added.

Witness Hayatullah, a handcart owner selling sugarcanes in the area, said a huge plume of smoke billowed out after the detonation. No one suffered casualties in the attack.

myn/mbg