Afghanistan: 3 killed, 20 injured in series of explosions in Nangarhar province

At least three people have died and 20 have been injured in a sequence of three blasts in the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, which targeted Taliban trucks. Initially, no claims were made for the responsibility of the attack in Jalalabad on Saturday but an increasingly deadly Islamic State group affiliate is based in eastern Afghanistan, and it is a rival of the country's new Taliban leadership.

It was unclear whether Taliban officials were among those killed or injured. In another attack, a sticky bomb exploded in the country's capital Kabul on Saturday, injuring two people, according to police sources. The Kabul bomb's intended target was not immediately known.

Blasts are the consequence of infighting among Taliban factions

Two convoys of cars transporting Taliban fighters were targeted by the explosions. The convoys were travelling from Nangarhar province capital, Jalalabad, to Kabul. The Zadran tribe, whose core is the Haqqani network led by Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, dominates the road from the eastern cities to the national capital. According to observers in Kabul, the blasts are the consequence of infighting among Taliban factions.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon revealed on Friday that a Taliban suicide bomber was the target of a drone strike on August 29, but that numerous civilians were killed in the process. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement that they now knew that Ahmadi had no ties to ISIS-Khorasan. 

Jalalabad, Afghanistan's fifth-largest city, is around 80 miles from Kabul. The blast occurs at a time when Afghanistan is at the centre of global attention following the Taliban's sudden takeover of the country on August 15. Since then, other attacks have occurred in the country.

Osama bin Laden had a substantial presence in Nangarhar

Nangarhar is one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, located in the country's east, bordering the provinces of Logar, Kabul, Laghman, and Kunar, as well as an international border with Pakistan. It is divided into 22 districts and has a population of around 1.7 million, making it the country's third most populated province. Jalalabad is the provincial capital of Nangarhar. During the late 1990s, Osama bin Laden had a substantial presence in Nangarhar.

(Inputs from AP News)

Image: AP