JALALABAD (AFGHANISTAN) - Eight people were killed and 45 wounded in a series of explosions targeting a cricket match in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, officials said Saturday, the first attack since the holy month of Ramadan began. No group has yet claimed the murders but the Taliban said they were not responsible in a WhatsApp message. In September 2017 IS claimed a suicide bombing on a cricket match in Kabul which left three dead and five injured. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday condemned the attack in Jalalabad. Cricket in Afghanistan struggled under the hardline Islamist Taliban regime in the late 1990s, which viewed sports as a distraction from religious duties.

Source: Bangkok Post May 19, 2018 07:18 UTC