Vehicle blast kills Taliban commander, wounds 11

JALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN (AFP) - A bomb ripped through a vehicle carrying a Taliban police chief in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday (Oct 14), killing him and wounding 11 others, officials said.

The blast happened in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province, targeting the Taliban police chief for Shigal district, said an official from the Islamist group.

"The police chief has died and eleven people have been wounded," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A doctor in Kunar central hospital confirmed that it had received 11 wounded people, including four Taliban fighters and seven civilians.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group, who are active in eastern Afghanistan, have claimed similar attacks on the Taliban in the past.

The Taliban has battled with IS-K since its emergence in Afghanistan in 2014.

IS-K has claimed responsibility for some of the most recent attacks, including a suicide bombing among worshippers last week in a Shiite mosque in Kunduz province that killed around 100 people.

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