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Suicide car bombing kills several, wounds dozens in western Afghanistan

Afghan officials say the attack took place in Afghanistan's western Ghor province targeting government buildings, adding the death toll is expected to rise.

AFP

Security personnel and residents gather around the site of a car bomb attack that targeted an Afghan police headquarters in Feroz Kho, the capital of Ghor Province on October 18, 2020.

A suicide car bombing has killed at least 13 people and wounded around 120 others in Afghanistan's western Ghor province, officials have said.

The incident took place on Sunday in Feroz Koh city, the provincial capital, at around 0630GMT when a car packed with explosives detonated, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The head of a hospital in Ghor, Mohammad Omer Lalzad, said emergency staff were treating dozens of people with both serious and light injuries from the bombing.

He expected the death toll to rise.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Aran said the attack struck near the entrance of the provincial police chief's office and other nearby government buildings in the area.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Ghor, which comes amid an uptick in attacks by the Taliban as representatives of the group and Afghan government officials hold their first-ever face-to-face talks in Qatar, where the Taliban have had a political office for many years.

The negotiations are meant to end the country’s decades-long war.

AFP

Smoke rises from the site of a car bomb attack that targeted an Afghan police headquarters in Feroz Kho, the capital of Ghor Province on October 18, 2020.

Blast heard across province capital

Arif Aber, spokesman for the provincial governor in Ghor, said the blast was so strong that its sound could heard across Feroz Koh, the capital city of the province.

"It damaged and partially destroyed a few government buildings, including the police chief's office, the women's affairs department and the provincial office for refugees," Aber said.

On Friday, the Taliban agreed to suspend attacks in southern Afghanistan that had displaced thousands of residents in recent days.

It came after the US vowed to halt all strikes and night raids in keeping with the peace agreement the US signed with the Taliban in February.

The US had been conducting air strikes in support of Afghan forces trying to repel Taliban assaults in Helmand province, which threatened to derail efforts to end Afghanistan’s war.

'Senseless ongoing murder'

The country’s Independent Human Rights Commission has condemned the fighting.

"This continued violence is horrific, unacceptable, inhuman, un-Islamic. This must stop. Anyone with any power over this has an obligation to stop this senseless, ongoing murder," commission's chairperson, Shaharzad Akbar, said in a statement.

Most of the victims are civilians, Aran told Anadolu Agency.