Attack on the east of Afghanistan leaves at least 19 dead

At least 19 people were killed Sunday (1), including the only Sikh candidate in Afghanistan's upcoming parliamentary elections in a suicide bombing in the city of Jalalabad, visited by President Ashraf Ghani. The suicide bomber blew up the explosive charge in a market located hundreds of meters from the provincial government building, where Ghani was attending a meeting, said local government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani

. Sikhs and Hindus, the provincial director of health, Najibullah Kamawal, told AFP. Twenty people were injured. Avtar Singh, the only Sikh candidate in the October 20 race, is among the dead, said a representative of the Indian Embbady. In a statement, the diplomatic mission condemned "the cowardly terrorist attack".

Small communities of Sikhs and Hindus live in this country which is mbadively Muslim. It is not yet clear if they were the target of the attack, claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed that a suicide bomber had committed the bombing – the last of a bomb in the Pakistani city of Baghdad. series of lethal offensives in this province. According to the spokesman, President Ghani is "out of danger". The first images available show several fire outbreaks in the market area, which is located on one of the major avenues of Jalalabad.