KABUL
A suspected suicide bomb blast killed at least nine people and injured 18 others at a funeral ceremony of a tribal elder in northern Afghanistan Monday, a senior police official said.
According to local officials, the blast took place in Baghlan province’s Burka district.
“Two policemen and a former jihadi commander are among the dead,” provincial police chief Gen. Aminullah Amarkhil said.
The wounded were shifted to the district and provincial hospitals.
Amarkhil said the tribal elder did not have any affiliation with the Afghan government or any other organization.
The militant group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is said to have a strong presence in the Burka district.
At least 30 people were injured in a bomb blast at a mosque during Friday prayers in eastern Nangarhar province on Nov. 28.
At least 45 people were killed and nearly 56 others were injured in a suicide bomb attack during a volleyball match in southeastern Paktika province on Nov. 23.
Taliban militants have intensified their attacks after the Afghan government recently signed a controversial bilateral-security agreement with the U.S. and NATO, which allows foreign forces to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.
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