Suicide car bomb kills eight, misses targeted Afghan governor

Kabul: A governor targeted by a suicide car bomber escaped unhurt , but eight people were killed in the attack in Afghanistan on Monday. Those killed included four civilians, government officials said.

The attack took place in Laghman province and the governor, Rahmatullah Yarmal, was unharmed in the attack, according to his spokesman, Asadullah Dawlatzai.

Four of Yarmal's bodyguards were killed, and 38 people - both military and civilians - were wounded in the attack, according to the spokesman. The attack took place in Mihterlam, the provincial capital.

Dawlatzai said 36 civilians were among the wounded, including children, as well as two other bodyguards of the governor.

The explosion also left several vehicles badly damaged at the site of the attack. The wounded, including small children, were taken to the city's main hospitals.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but both the Islamic State group and the Taliban are active in the area. Both militant groups have carried out attacks in the past against Afghan government representatives, national security and defense personnel, and civilians.

The Laghman attack came after a suicide truck bombing in neighboring Nangarhar province on Saturday killed 13 people and wounded 38. That attack struck near a mosque as people were gathering for afternoon prayers.

Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban are holding intra-Afghan negotiations in Qatar, a Mideast country where the Taliban have had a political office for many years. The negotiations are meant to end the country's decades-long long war, following a U.S.-Taliban peace deal signed in February in Doha, Qatar's capital.

(With input from PTI)