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KABUL: A suicide bomber killed 17 people in an attack on a busy marketplace in northern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said, despite attempts by the authorities to reassure Afghans over security during next month’s presidential election.
The blast happened as Afghan security forces prepare to secure thousands of election sites across the country before the April 5 vote, designed to mark the first time one elected government hands power to another in the history of Afghanistan.
The Taleban have threatened to kill anyone who takes part in the elections, and eight people involved in political campaigning have been killed since electioneering started last month. A group of election officials has also been kidnapped.
At least 47 people were wounded when the suicide bomber driving a three-wheel rickshaw blew himself up in Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab province, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
“It was a bazaar day and everybody was busy buying or selling when the bomber detonated his explosives,” Faryab governor Mohammadullah Batash told Reuters. Three children were among the dead, the United Nations said.
Nicholas Haysom, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan, said such bombings could be a war crime.