Jalalabad suicide strike kills 13, injures 14

At least 13 people were killed and 14 others wounded when a suicide bomber struck the home of a prominent politician in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, authorities said. The latest attack came during a “jirga”, an assembly of tribal leaders, at the home of politician Obaiduallah Shinwari, who escaped unscathed. 

“Thirteen people were killed and 14 others injured when a suicide bomber targeted the house of Shinwari,” said a statement from the governor of Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital. 

Shinwari is a well-known member of Nangarhar’s provincial council and his family is said to be actively involved in local politics. The uptick in violence comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, locked in a tussle for supremacy with the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Last week representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China met in a bid to revive stalled Taliban peace talks, even as the insurgents wage a brazen winter campaign of violence. 

The so-called “roadmap” talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Islamists to end the 14-year Taliban insurgency. The four-country group is set to hold the next round of discussions tomorrow in Kabul