Blast kills 15, injures dozens in northern Afghanistan

Fifteen people have been killed and dozens others injured in a bomb attack carried out at a crowded market in Afghanistan’s northern province of Faryab.

Local authorities said on Tuesday an attacker who was on a three-wheeled motorbike detonated his explosives on a busy marketplace in the city of Maimanah.

“It was a bazaar day and everybody was busy buying or selling when the bomber detonated his explosives,” said Faryab governor Mohammadullah Batash. “All 15 of the dead are civilians or street vendors, and at least 27 are also wounded.”

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the deadly bomb attack, but Taliban militants have been behind many such attacks in the past.

On March 10, the Taliban published a statement calling on its militants to disrupt Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential election, urging them to attack polling staff, voters and security forces ahead of the vote to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai.

Militant attacks have already claimed the lives of several election campaign workers over the past few weeks across various regions of the country.

The April 5 presidential election is scheduled to be held ahead of the planned 2014 withdrawal of US-led foreign troops from Afghanistan.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of the so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity remains across the country.

In early February, President Karzai said that he “saw no good” in the US presence in Afghanistan, adding that the US-led NATO mission has failed to bring security.