9 civilians, police killed in Zabul bombing

QALAT (PAN): Nine people have been killed and a dozen others wounded in a bomb explosion in the Shah Joi district of southern Zabul province, officials said on Monday.

Six civilians and three Afghan Local Police (ALP) members were killed and 12 residents wounded on Sunday evening when a roadside bomb hit a vehicle in Kala Khail, the acting governor said.

Mohammad Jan Rasulyar told Pajhwok Afghan News the wounded were evacuated to a hospital to neighbouring Kandahar province for medical treatment. Police have mounted a search for perpetrators.

Dadullah, a resident of the district, said the explosion took place when people were breaking their fast. Immediately after the incident, ALP members started gunfire, wounding a number of civilians, he claimed.

Children and women were among the casualties, the resident said, denouncing the attack as an anti-Islam act. There was no justification for killing or wounding ordinary people, he argued.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility and said an ALP commander and five of his subordinates had been killed and their vehicle completely destroyed.

Ahmadi insisted the civilians were killed in the subsequent shooting by security forces. But Rasulyar rejected the allegation, accusing the Taliban of trying to conceal their brutal actions.

mds/mud

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