A loud explosion from a car bomb left at least eight dead and 47 injured in Herat province in western Afghanistan, authorities said Saturday. Hours later, the United Nations condemned the “alarming” increase in attacks on civilians in the country.
The death toll from Friday night’s explosion, which also destroyed 14 homes, is expected to rise as several injured people were in critical condition, said Rafiq Sherzai, a spokesman for the provincial hospital.
One of the dead and 11 injured were members of the Afghan security forces, while the rest were civilians, including women and children, Interior Ministry spokesman Tarq Arian said.
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Hours after the incident, the UN Security Council, in a statement from New York, condemned the “alarming” increase in attacks against civilians on Afghan soil, despite the fact that the Taliban and Kabul government hold intermittent peace talks in Qatar.
“These horrific attacks are targeting civil servants, the judiciary, the press, humanitarian and health workers, including women in prominent positions, those who protect and promote human rights, and ethnic and religious minorities,” the Council stressed.
The IS group has claimed responsibility for many of the deadly attacks in Afghanistan, while the Taliban and the government blame each other for sabotaging efforts to reach a peace deal.
The slow progress of negotiations and increased violence prompted the United States to draft a peace proposal, which was presented last weekend. Both sides are expected to review and revise the eight-page plan ahead of a meeting Washington has proposed to hold in Turkey in a few weeks, when it expects to see a deal.
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Meanwhile, the United States is reviewing a peace deal that the Donald Trump administration has signed with the Taliban calling for the withdrawal of 2,500 US soldiers from Afghanistan by May 1.
The growing consensus is for a postponement, but in a strong letter last week to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani urging progress in the peace process with the Taliban, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that all options, including the withdrawal of troops, are negotiable. goods.