ISLAMABAD (AP) — A bomb killed a former Taliban police official Thursday in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province during a memorial for a deputy governor who had died in a previous blast, a Taliban official said.
Safiullah Samim, Taliban’s former police chief for northern Baghlan province, was among those killed in the blast during the funeral ceremony of the deputy governor of Badakhshan province, according to Moazuddin Ahmadi, provincial director of information and culture.
The latest explosion occurred near Nabawi mosque during a funeral for Mawlavi Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan. He was killed by a car bomb on Tuesday alongside of his driver in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan.
The provincial director of information and culture couldn’t provide an exact number of casualties, but added that an investigation is ongoing.
Two local sources who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with media said that the blast happened inside the mosque where Taliban officials and local people attended the memorial ceremony, killing at least 13 people including Samim.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s car bombing that killed deputy governor and his driver. Ten people were also wounded in the blast.
Ahmadi was wounded in the explosion and died shortly after at a local hospital, according to the director of the information and culture in Badakhshan.
In December, a car bombing killed Badakhshan’s provincial police chief as he made his way to work.
The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — said at the time that it had carried out that attack. IS said it had parked an explosive-laden car on the road and detonated it when the police chief was close by.