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1st LD Writethru: 1 killed, 5 injured in bomb attack in Afghanistan

Xinhua, August 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

One person was killed and five others wounded in a bomb attack targeting a provincial official in Mehtaralm city, capital of eastern Afghanistan's Laghman province on Thursday, sources said.

"An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a motorcycle along a road was detonated when the vehicle of Tawoss Adel, chairman of provincial council, was passing by. The blast killed one bystander and injured five people," a security source told Xinhua anonymously.

Adel slightly injured in the blast, which is the latest in a string of targeted attacks against government officials and local leaders.

The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital and the area was cordoned of by security forces.

Sarhaddi Zwak, provincial government spokesman, told Xinhua that an investigation was launched into the incident and details would be released afterwards.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban militant group has launched similar attacks in the past.

More than 1,600 civilians were killed and over 3,560 injured in the first half of the year as the violence spread in different places of the country, according to a report by the UN mission in Afghanistan released late last month. Enditem