Suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan kills at least 18 celebrating truce

A suicide bomber struck in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday, killing at least 18 people in the second attack in as many days, as Taliban announced they would not extend their three-day ceasefire with the Afghan government.

Afghan policemen keep watch near the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan June 11, 2018. (Reuters)

A suicide attack in restive eastern Afghanistan on Sunday killed at least 18 people and wounded 45, an official said, the second attack in as many days to mar an unprecedented ceasefire.

The explosion happened outside the Nangarhar provincial governor's office in the capital Jalalabad, his spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said.

The blast site is located close to the Indian consulate.

Khogyani earlier said 14 people had been killed and 45 wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. 

Khogyani said a suicide bomber on foot had targeted Taliban, local elders and civilians as they left the governor's compound where they had attended a special event for the Eid holiday.

On Saturday, a suicide attack on a gathering of Taliban, security forces and civilians in a district of the same eastern province of Nangarhar killed at least 36 people and wounded 65 others, provincial health director Najibullah Kamawal told AFP.

Daesh terror group's Afghanistan franchise claimed responsibility for that attack.

Journalist Sultan Faizy has the latest from Kabul.

End to ceasefire

The Taliban also announced on Sunday that they would not extend their three-day ceasefire with Afghan security forces and fighting would resume, dashing hopes for the recent peace to continue.

The comments by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid come after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced Saturday a government truce with the militants would be extended. He asked the group to reciprocate. 

An Afghan Taliban militants carries a rocket-propelled as he looks on with residents as they took to the street to celebrate ceasefire on the second day of Eid in the outskirts of Jalalabad on June 16, 2018. Taliban fighters and Afghan security forces hugged and took selfies with each other in restive eastern Afghanistan on June 16, as an unprecedented ceasefire in the war-torn country held for the second day of Eid. (AFP)

"The ceasefire ends tonight and our operations will begin, inshallah. We have no intention to extend the ceasefire," Mujahid told AFP in a WhatsApp message.

The militants said they would withdraw by sunset on Sunday from government-controlled areas that they had entered for Eid celebrations .

The first formal, nationwide ceasefire in the country since the 2001 US invasion had been met with jubilation across the country as Afghans - Taliban, security forces and civilians - celebrated Eid, the holiday that caps the fasting month of Ramadan.