1 killed, eight hurt in bomb blast at press event in Afghanistan

Kabul, March 11

A blast hit a cultural centre during an event for journalists in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding eight, according to authorities and journalists, a few days after the province’s governor died in an explosion claimed by Islamic State.

“Today, at 11:30 am an explosion occurred at the Tabyan Cultural Centre, in the second police district of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province … the explosion happened due to a mine,” said Abdul Nafi Takor, spokesman for the Taliban administration’s Interior Ministry.

Takor added that five journalists and three children were among the injured and a security guard was killed. It as not immediately clear who was behind the explosion.

Sajad Mosawi, a journalist in Balkh who was injured in the blast, said it had torn through the centre during an event to celebrate journalists.

Taliban authorities were already investigating the explosion that killed provincial governor Mawlawi Mohammad Dawood Muzamil and two others at his office on Thursday.

The governor of Afghanistan’s southern province of Kandahar will temporarily run Balkh, his spokesperson Haji Zaid told Reuters, until Supreme Spiritual Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada selects a new governor for the northern province, an important trade hub with Central Asia.

No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — is a key rival of the Taliban.

The militant group has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority. — Agencies

‘Mine explosion’

• “The explosion happened due to a mine,” said Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor
• A security guard was killed and eight others were hurt
• Takor said that five journalists and three children were among the injured
• It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast