Global Courant
A Taliban official says a bomb exploded during a memorial ceremony in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province, killing several, including a former Taliban police official
ISLAMABAD — A former Taliban police officer was killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan on Thursday at a memorial service for a deputy governor killed in an earlier blast, a Taliban official said.
Safiullah Samim, the former Taliban police chief for northern Baghlan province, was among those killed in the blast at the funeral ceremony of the deputy governor of Badakhshan province, according to Moazuddin Ahmadi, provincial director of information and culture.
The latest explosion occurred near the Nabawi Mosque during a funeral for Maulavi Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan. He was killed by a car bomb next to his driver in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, on Tuesday.
The provincial director of information and culture could not give an exact number of casualties, but added that an investigation is underway.
Two local sources who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media said the blast took place at the mosque where Taliban officials and local people attended the memorial ceremony, killing at least 13 people, including Samim.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s car bombing that killed the deputy governor and his driver. Ten people were also injured in the explosion.
Ahmadi was injured in the explosion and died soon after at a local hospital, according to the director of information and culture in Badakhshan.
In December, the provincial police chief of Badakhshan was killed in a car bomb on his way to work.
The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as Islamic State in Khorasan province — said at the time that it carried out that attack. IS said it had parked a car loaded with explosives on the road and detonated it when the police chief was nearby.
