July 02
A suicide bomber in Jalalabad Afghanistan targeted a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus on their way to meet Afghanistan’s president in the eastern city on Sunday, killing at least 19 people.
A spokesman for the provincial hospital in Nangarhar, said that 17 out of 19 dead in the attack are from the minority Sikh and Hindu community.
Miakhail added that at least 10 of the 20 wounded were also from the same minority community and are undergoing treatment at a Jalalabad hospital.
Narendr Singh, one of the wounded Sikh from Sunday’s attack, told The Associated Press by phone from his hospital bed in Jalalabad that the attack targeted their convoy. He cried on the phone worrying what had happened to his father, Avtar Singh Khalsa, who was also in the convoy.
Miakhail confirmed that Khalsa, a longtime leader of the Sikh community who had planned to run in the parliamentary elections set for October, was killed in the attack.
Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said that a number of shops and vehicles caught fire as result of the attack.