15 January 2017•Update: 16 January 2017
By Islam Sajid and Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD and KARACHI, Pakistan
At least 10 people, including three security personnel, were killed and several others wounded in an explosion in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday.
The incident took place in the Pachir Wa Agam district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province on border with Pakistan, targeting a vehicle carrying passengers, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said in a statement
He added that seven of the casualties were civilians, and four others wounded in the explosion were taken to Jalalabad hospital.
No group, including the Taliban, has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan, is considered a Daesh stronghold.
Separately, another explosion killed at least three security personnel and injured one in the Sehra Bagh area of the Khost province when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded near a vehicle carrying security officials in the area, local police sources said.
In another incident, Afghan officials Sunday said Daesh terrorists abducted 13 seminary teachers in the eastern Nangarhar province.
District governor Saz Wali Khan told Anadolu Agency that militants stormed a local seminary in the Haska Mina area and kidnapped the teachers.
"Daesh terrorists have pressured seminary teachers and students to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the so-called caliphate, but they refused to do so," he added.
He said Daesh militants also burned down more than 50 houses of locals who refused to pledge allegiance to them.
- Pakistan expresses condolences, solidarity
Pakistan’s powerful army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa Sunday telephoned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to express his condolences over the loss of life in recent terror attacks in Afghanistan which claimed dozens of lives, including five United Arab Emirates diplomats on Jan. 11.
Bajwa also reiterated Islamabad's cooperation with the Kabul government and people to eliminate the scourge of terrorism from the region, said a statement from the Pakistani army’s media wing.
He emphasized that Pakistan has come a long way in its fight against terrorism and has eliminated all safe havens in the process.
Bajwa suggested a robust border management mechanism and intelligence cooperation to put a stop to terrorists moving across the border.
"Elements inimical to peace in the region are strengthened by the blame game. Both nations should rather focus on capitalizing on the gains of successful military operations," he said.
Ghani thanked Bajwa for his sentiments and reiterated that both nations must work together for peace and stability in the region, the statement concluded.
