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AFGHANISTAN-BLAST
3 police killed in eastern Afghanistan car bombing: official
NANGARHAR, Afghanistan, July 7, 2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – At least three Afghan Local Police (ALP) personnel were killed and five people wounded after a suicide car bomb blast rocked a district bazaar in the country’s eastern province of Nangarhar on Tuesday, a provincial government spokesman confirmed.
“The explosion occurred roughly at 10:30 a.m. (local time) in Khewa district bazaar. Afghan National Police secured the site after the blast. The initial information found that eight people were affected by the incident,” spokesman Attaullah Khogiani told Xinhua.
The obvious target of the attack was Mir Zaman, an ALP commander, who was killed with two other ALP constables.
The Afghan government established the ALP or community police a decade ago to protect villages and districts around the country where the army and police have limited presence.
Khogyani noted that an investigation is underway.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. Taliban militants and militants of the Islamic State (IS) group have presence in the mountainous province, 120 km east of Kabul.
Militancy and counter-militancy traditionally get momentum in spring and summer, which are commonly known as the fighting season in Afghanistan.
BSS/XINHUA/SSS/1520 hrs