Kabul, Sep 11: At least 19 people were killed and 57 wounded on Tuesday in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province in a suicide attack on protesters who were calling for the dismissal of a police commander.
The incident, the fourth attack to hit the region on Tuesday, took place around 1 p.m, when an insurgent detonated a bomb he was carrying in his vest in the Momand Darah district, said Attaullah Khogyanai, spokesperson for Nangarhar governor.
"So far 19 martyred and 57 injured in suicide attack," Inamullah Myakhil, spokesman for Nangarhar Public Health Department told Efe news.
The incident occurred on the highway that connects Jalalabad with the Torkham border pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where a protest against a local police commander from the neighbouring Achin province was being held.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
This was the fourth attack of the day, after a 14-year-old died and four civilians were injured in three separate explosions near two girls' schools in Nangarhar. Two other blasts took place in Behsud district early morning.
Khogyanai said that the third attack took place in the police district 3 of the capital where one civilian sustained injuries.
In the past weeks, Nangarhar, the bastion of the Islamic State terror organization since it became active in the country in 2015, has faced a large number of attacks targeting elections, the government and civilians.
In late August, two people died and four were injured in a suicide attack during a protest near a provincial office of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan.
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Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
