By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
April 11, 2016
At least 12 recruits in the Afghan National Army have been killed and dozens of people wounded by a Taliban suicide bomber who attacked the recruits’ bus near the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri confirmed the death toll in the April 11 suicide attack, adding that the bomber drove a motorized tricycle packed with explosives into the bus.
Waziri said the recruits were being transferred from Jalalabad to Kabul.
He said at least 26 people were wounded. But medical workers at a regional hospital in Nangarhar Province said 38 people were being treated for injuries after the attack.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said later that a Taliban militant had carried out the suicide attack.
The attack came days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Kabul to underscore Washington’s support and called on Taliban militants to resume direct peace talks with Afghanistan’s government.
With reporting by AFP