Deadly blast hits eastern Afghan city, targeting Sikh minority

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - An explosion hit the center of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, killing at least 20 people, including several members of the small Sikh minority, provincial government officials said.

The blast, hours after President Ashraf Ghani had opened a hospital in Jalalabad, damaged shops and buildings around Mukhaberat square in the city, governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said.

A politician representing the minority Sikh community was killed in the blast. Officials said Awtar Singh Khalsa, who had planned to stand in October’s parliamentary elections, was dead.

Afghanistan is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation but a small number of Hindus and Sikhs remain in the country. - Read More

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