13 killed as Bomb Blast hit Eastern Afghanistan

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Officials in eastern Afghanistan say a suicide blast killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 40 others in an eastern region near the border with Pakistan Saturday.

The bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up near the entrance to the governor?s office in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, witnesses said.

An anti-Taliban local militia commander, identified as Malik Khan Jan, is among those killed in the explosion.

Provincial authorities say the attack mostly caused civilian casualties, including children who were either passersby or playing in the nearby park.  Seven seriously wounded victims have been taken to a hospital in nearby Nangarhar province.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing.

The United Nations in its annual report released last week said the conflict-related violence in Afghanistan caused record 11,000 civilian casualties, including around 3,500 dead in 2015. The U.N. report blamed the Taliban insurgency for causing 62 percent of the causalities.

In another development Saturday, military officials in restive southern Helmand province told VOA that Afghan special forces overnight raided and freed 35 inmates, including women and children, from a Taliban-held prison in the Nadali district.

There was no immediate reaction from the insurgent group.