A car bomb explosion in Afghanistan’s Lashkargah city in Helmand province on Friday killed at least 15 people and wounded 50, Tolo News reported. Omar Zwak, the spokesperson for Helmand Governor Hayatullah Hayat, said that the blast happened close to a local stadium where people were leaving a wrestling match.
The Nowruz festival, the start of the Persian New Year, was celebrated on Tuesday in Afghanistan. Friday’s wrestling match was held to commemorate the festival, AFP reported. “The enemies of Afghanistan cannot prevent the celebration of traditional, religious and cultural events in the country,” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in response to Friday’s attack.
Several people have died in blasts in Afghanistan in the past few months. On Wednesday, at least 32 people were killed and 52 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shia shrine in Kabul.
On March 17, three civilians were killed and two wounded in a car bomb explosion in Kabul. Three days before that, 10 security personnel were killed in an insurgent attack at a checkpoint in Farah province.
On January 29, five Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in an attack at a military academy in Kabul. Two days after the attack, a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital claimed 103 lives and left 235 people injured. On January 20, Taliban militants had killed 22 people in a hotel in Kabul.
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