A bomb-rigged motorcycle parked near a branch of Kabul Bank in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province, blew up at around 3 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) on Saturday.
Rahmatullah, a resident of the city, said he was standing in front of a shop when a huge blast occurred and added that the explosion was so powerful that the windows of nearby shops were shattered.
Haya Gul Paktin, a doctor at the Gardez Civil Hospital, confirmed receiving two dead bodies and 10 injured people from the blast site. He added that the injured are in stable condition.
Meanwhile, local authorities in northern Afghanistan have announced that the Taliban’s shadow district governor, Mawlawi Abdul Ahmad, was killed during an operation by Afghan police forces in Jowzjan province late on Friday.
Insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of about 130,000 US-led forces in the war-torn country.
MP/MF/HGL