Twin blasts in Afghan province of Bamiyan kill 14 people, injure 45 more

Twin blasts in the central Afghan province of Bamiyan killed at least 14 people and wounded 45 more, provincial officials said on Tuesday as the international community pledged assistance for Afghanistan in Geneva.

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The explosives were hidden at the side of a road in a main bazaar in Bamiyan city that killed 12 civilians and two traffic policemen and wounded 45 other people, said Zabardast Safai, the police chief of the province.

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Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said 45 people were also wounded in a late afternoon blast in Bamiyan city in Bamiyan province.

Several shops and vehicles were destroyed or damaged.

Mohammad Reza Yusuofi, spokesman for the provincial police chief in Bamiyan, said there were two bombs that exploded in quick succession.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesman, said the group was not involved.

The ISIS group affiliate in Afghanistan has declared war on the country’s minority Shiite Muslims — and Bamiyan is a mostly Shiite province.

Violence and chaos have increased in Afghanistan in recent months even as government negotiators and the Taliban are meeting to find an end to decades of relentless war. The two sides have made little progress.

The ISIS affiliate has claimed responsibility for recent attacks in Afghanistan, including two horrific assaults on educational institutions that killed at least 50 people, most of them students