Former mayor and commander dies as blast hits football ground in Badakhshan

A blast has been reported on Sunday near a football ground in Faizabad city of Badakhshan province, Tolo news reported citing the provincial governor Zakaria Sawda.

The former mayor of Faizabad and a commander of public uprising forces, Nazir Mohammad Niazi has died as a result of the blast that occured at around 6 pm.

The Ministry of Interior's spokesman Nusrat Rahimi also confirmed the incident.

Mr. Rahimi said the explosives were placed near the football ground and were detonated when the former mayor arrived in the area

Former mayor of Faizabad and a commander of public uprising forces, Nazir Mohammad Niazi, was killed in an explosion near a football match in Faizabad city, Badakhshan province, at around 6pm this evening, the provincial governor Zakaria Sawda confirmed. pic.twitter.com/2KnLFAvolV

— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) September 1, 2019

The war-torn country has been seeing an increasing number of violent incidents for the past few days even as the talks between the Taliban and US are going on to arrive on a conclusion for a peaceful future of the country.

At least eight people were killed after a bomb blast hit Farah province earlier today. There were around six civilians among those who were killed in the blast that occured Anar Dara district in the western province of Farah.

Around 12 people were killed on Saturday evening as a result of airstrikes carried out by Afghan security forces in Garziwan district of Faryab province.

Yesterday, dozens of people were killed after the Taliban fighters launched a major attack in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz in the early hours of Saturday morning, setting off gun battles and air strikes through the day in a bid to gain control of the city located on a key highway providing easy access to much of northern border provinces.