Lashkar Gah - A car bomb
exploded outside a bank in Lashkar Gah, capital of the southern
Afghan province of Helmand on Thursday, killing and wounding
dozens of civilians and members of the security forces waiting
to collect their pay, officials said.
Omar Zwak, spokesperson for the provincial governor, said at
least 34 people had been killed and more than 60 wounded,
including members of the police and army, civilians and staff of
the New Kabul Bank branch where the attack took place.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the
attack but insurgent groups, including the Taliban, have in the
past targeted banks where police, soldiers and other government
employees collect their pay.
Security is worsening across Afghanistan almost three years
after international troops ended their main combat mission.
Emergency workers and passers-by tried to help the injured,
who were strewn among the dead. Ambulances and private cars
ferried the victims to hospitals.
The blast, which also damaged nearby shops, came as Afghans
were preparing to celebrate next week's Eid al-Fitr festival
marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
While high-profile attacks in the capital, Kabul, have made
headlines, dozens of similar incidents in provincial centres
over recent months have steadily undermined confidence in
President Ashraf Ghani's divided government.
Helmand, one of the world's major opium growing centres and
a traditional heartland of the Taliban, has been under
particularly heavy pressure with large parts of the province in
the hands of the insurgents.