Afghanistan: 10 killed in Jalalabad suicide attack

New Delhi : News reporting from Afghanistan states that close to 10 people have been killed and four others injured when a suicide bomber explodes his explosives at a checkpoint in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.

A spokesman of Nangarhar provincial governor reported that along with other casualties, two security personnel were attacked on Tuesday.

Besides, Tolo News, a Kabul-based news website mentioned that the eight other fatalities were civilians.

According to Tolo, several shops and vehicles close to the explosion were also damaged in the fire that followed the blast.

However, no group has been held responsible for the violence.

For past sometime, Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, has been the place of numerous attacks as armed rebels step up activity in the restless region.

Afghan security forces have fought back to battle the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group since the US and NATO formally completed their combat mission in the country in 2014 and shifted their focus to a support and counterterrorism part.

The latest attack in Jalalabad on July 1 killed at least 19 people. It was last year, that the US pledged to increase its support to struggling Afghan forces, announcing plans for thousands of additional advisers and increasing air attacks in a bid to force the Taliban to enter peace negotiations.