JALALABAD: At least 14 people were killed on Sunday when a suicide bomber struck a gathering of tribal elders at a prominent politician’s home in Jalalabad, prompting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to warn that the security forces will go after the culprits with all their strength.

“When terrorists lose the ability to fight face-to-face with our security forces, then they target public places and kill our innocent people,” Mr Ghani said in a statement.

“The government will fight those who shed the blood of our innocent people.”

The Taliban denied responsibility for the bombing, which also left 13 people injured on the eve of a second round of four-country negotiations aimed at restarting peace talks with the insurgents.

The carnage came during a jirga of tribal leaders at the home of politician Obaiduallah Shinwari, who escaped unscathed.

“Fourteen people were killed and 13 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the house of Shinwari,” Najibullah Kamawal, the health director of Nangarhar province, said.

Ambulances rushed to the scene, which was littered with pieces of human flesh, sandals and charred debris.

Mr Shinwari is a well-known member of Nangarhar’s provincial council and his family is said to be actively involved in local politics.

The United Nations also condemned the killings, reiterating its plea to all armed groups to stop the deliberate targeting of civilians.

The bombing is the second deadly attack in the city since Wednesday, when the Islamic State group’s militants claimed responsibility for a four-hour gun and bomb siege targeting the Pakistani consulate.

All three attackers and seven members of the security forces were killed in the assault, the first major IS attack in an Afghan city and on a Pakistani government installation.

The group, which controls territory across Syria and Iraq, is making gradual inroads in Afghanistan, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.

It has managed to attract disaffected Taliban fighters increasingly lured by the group’s signature brutality.

In a sign of its growing reach in Afghanistan, the group has taken to the airwaves with a 90-minute Pashto-language radio show.

The government has said it is trying to block the broadcast, which is beamed from an undisclosed location and aimed at winning new recruits.

The uptick in violence comes amid renewed international efforts to revive peace talks with the Taliban, which are locked in a tussle for supremacy with the IS in Afghanistan.

Last week, representatives of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China met in a bid to revive stalled peace talks with the Taliban, even as the insurgents wage a brazen winter campaign of violence.

The so-called “roadmap” talks were meant to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban to end their 14-year insurgency.

The four-country group is set to hold the next round of discussions on Monday in Kabul.

Meanwhile, a rocket landed near the Italian embassy in Kabul on Sunday, a police official said.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016