Afghanistan: Car bomb in playground kills 9 civilians

KABUL, Afghanistan

At least nine people were killed and over 30 others were injured in a car bomb attack on a playground in eastern Paktika province on Sunday, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

According to Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the ministry, the attack occurred in the province's Khairokot district. All the victims were civilians.

The ministry rejected reports that local officials were among the casualties.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied responsibility for the incident.

Some of the wounded were evacuated to a hospital in Sharana, the provincial capital, while more serious cases were sent to the capital Kabul. Colonel Baz Mohammad, an officer from the Ministry of Defense, said that three helicopters had been sent to the province to evacuate the injured to hospitals in the capital.

In a similar incident in November 2014, at least 45 people were killed and 60 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives during a volleyball match in Yahyakhil district of Paktika province.

Also on Sunday, a suicide bomber killed two people, including a local militia commander and wounded three others in northern Faryab province. Three rockets also hit Jalalabad city, provincial capital of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan, Sunday evening.

Separately, U.S. drone strikes killed 85 suspected Pakistani Daesh fighters in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday, the Afghan intelligence agency claimed.