TRIPwire, 02 July 2018

On 1 July 2018 at approximately 1600 hours local time, a suicide bomber detonated a person-borne improvised explosive device (PBIED) in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan where President Ashraf Ghani was visiting, killing at least 19 people, including 17 Hindu and Sikh Afghan nationals. The attacker struck a market located hundreds of meters from the provincial governor’s compound where Ghani was holding meetings. The attack came a day after President Ghani ordered Afghan security forces to resume offensive operations against the Taliban, which followed the expiration of the government’s 18-day ceasefire. Islamic State of Iraq al-Sham claimed responsibility for the attack.