A car bomb exploded outside the venue of an anti-drugs conference in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing two people including a policeman and wounding two others, a district official said. The device detonated as local officials and elders were gathering for the meeting in eastern Nangarhar provinceâs Khogiani district on the border with Pakistan, said Mohammad Omar Layiq, the district chief. âOne policeman and one civilian were killed and two, including my deputy, were wounded in the explosion,â Layiq said.
The bomb exploded in a car driven by one of the participants of the meeting, he said. The device may have been attached to the vehicle overnight when it was in a public parking lot, he said. âWe cannot blame the attack on anyone right now. The vehicle was parked in a lot before it was driven to the meeting. We have launched an investigation,â Layiq said. Police later arrested three suspects. The governmentâs efforts to stabilise war-ravaged Afghanistan have been undermined by violence blamed on Taliban and other anti-government insurgents and criminal gangs involved in the drugs trade. |