68 killed and dozens injured by suicide bomber in Afghanistan

68 people have been killed and a further 165 have been injured after a suicide bomb exploded in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, near the border with Pakistan, officials said

A suicide bomber detonated explosives amid a crowd of protesters outside a police station near the Pakistan border in the Momandara district of Nangarhar province, said provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani.

Captain Qais Saifi, an official in the local Nangarhar police department, said in a statement:

“Around 400 people gathered for the protest and the bomber detonated his vest full of explosive[s] among the crowd.”

The attack was the worse in Afghanistan for many months and officials have warned the violence will likely continue ahead of the country’s October elections.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Taliban have denied any involvement.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement decrying the violence, writing that, “attacks on civilian facilities, mosques, women, children, are all crimes against humanity”.

A number of other smaller bombs also went off in Afghanistan on Tuesday; a 14-year-old school boy died and four others were injured after a bomb exploded near a school close to Jalalabad. Two further bombs went off in Behsud district, both near schools as well.