KABUL: Three explosions ripped through an Afghan provincial capital, Jalalabad, killing three people and wounding another 20 on Monday. All of the casualties were believed to be civilians, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for eastern Nangarhar’s governor.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack which came as the United Nations expressed grave concerns about the increase in violence around the country during the first week Ramazan, the ongoing Muslim month of fasting from sunrise to sunset.

Both the Taliban and an affiliate of the militant Islamic State group operate in Nangarhar province. Over the past year, the US has stepped up its air strikes in the area to try to dislodge IS fighters.

The explosions took place in Jalalabad’s city centre, but the target was not immediately clear.

In a statement earlier on Monday, the UN Mission in Afghanistan pointed out two major Taliban attacks in the past week an assault in the capital, Kabul, on a non-governmental agency that killed five and an attack in northern Baghlan province that struck a police headquarters, killing 13 officers.

“There can be absolutely no justification for deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN secretary-general’s special representative, was quoted as saying.

Late on Sunday, Taliban targeted security checkpoints in Afghanistan’s northern Sari Pul province, killing at least seven members of the country’s security forces, provincial officials said on Monday.

The insurgents also abducted two members of the force and left five wounded in the attacks near the provincial capital, said Mohammad Noor Rahmani, head of the provincial council.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2019