Over 70 injured as series of blasts rock eastern Afghan city

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2019-08-19T19:02:42+05:00

Kabul (Agencies): More than 70 people including children were wounded on Monday after a series of explosions shook the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, as the country's independence day was marred by bloodshed.

As many as 10 blasts were reported in and around the city in Nangarhar province, authorities said, and casualty numbers rose as the day wore on.

"The explosions were caused by IEDs in different parts of the city and as groups of people were celebrating independence day," the Nangarhar governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said, referring to improvised explosive devices.

Earlier the day, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday vowed to "eliminate" all safe havens of the militant Islamic State group as the country marked a subdued 100th Independence Day after a horrific wedding attack that claimed about 63 lives and wounded more than 180.

Both the bride and groom survived, and in an emotional interview with local broadcaster Tolo News the distraught groom, Mirwais Alani, said their lives were devastated within seconds.

Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the blast occurred in a west Kabul wedding hall around 10:40pm (1810 GMT) on Saturday night.

The wedding was believed to be a Shia gathering.

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