Afghanistan: Suicide bomber kills at least 25 funeral mourners
Afghan National Police keep watch during a patrol on the outskirts of Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province on June 5, 2012.
At least 25 people were killed in Afghanistan today and scores more were injured after a suicide bomber walked into a group of mourners paying their respects to a late tribal elder, Agence France-Presse reported.
Local leaders in the eastern province of Nangarhar believe the attacker was probably targeting the district governor, who was among the nearly 50 injured, the New York Times reported.
"The suicide attacker was walking among [the mourners]," a witness told the BBC.
"He was recognized by the brother of the district governor of Dur Baba. But as soon as he tried to arrest him, the attacker detonated his suicide vest. There is blood, and body parts [everywhere]. It was a packed funeral.”
A victim at a hospital told AFP that he heard a “big bang” and then saw “pieces of flesh and people all around me were covered in blood.”
Tribal elders and local intelligence officials blamed the Taliban for the deadly attack, though no one has claimed responsibility, the BBC reported.
CNN reported that Nangarhar has seen several recent NATO-led International Security Assistance Force operations targeting insurgents, suggesting today's attack was retaliation.
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