Truck bomb explosion injures 12 in eastern Afghanistan

At least 12 people, including seven policemen, have sustained injuries in a truck bomb explosion in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar.

The incident happened on Monday morning after a bomber targeted the outer perimeter of a police compound in the Surkhrod district of Nangarhar with an explosives-laden truck, Reuters reported.

The bomber tried to enter the compound but detonated the vehicle prematurely outside the facility, police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal said.

The governor of Nangarhar Province, Saleem Khan Kunduzi, said the blast also damaged a number of nearby buildings.

“It was early morning so no one was on the road and in the shops, but as a result of the explosion some shops, religious schools, police headquarters and nearby houses have been destroyed,” he said.

No group or individual has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban militants have been blamed for such attacks in the past.

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity years after the United States and its allies attacked the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. Although the Taliban militant group was removed from power as a result of the invasion, many areas in the country are still threatened by insecurity.