Kabul, July 1: In a bombing carried out by insurgents in Afghanistan's easternmost Nangarhar province, at least 19 were reported dead, including Hindus and Sikhs. The blast was carried out Mokhaberat Square, a cluster of buildings, located in the provincial capital of Jalalabad.

An Afghan official, while speaking to local media, said at least 10 among the deceased were members of the minority Sikh community.

No militant group took responsibility of the attack by the time this report was published. While Taliban is the prime insurgent outfit in major parts of Afghanistan, the Nangarhar province has seen the rise of Islamic State (ISIS) since late 2015, after the death of Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Omar.

The terror attack came shortly after suspected ISIS militants torched a school in Nangarhar province. Three school employees were also beheaded by the terrorists. The militants had warned the provincial education department to close down all schools in the region which imparted modern education.

Afghanistan has witnessed a surge of insurgency in the past three months, ever since the backchannel dialogue initiated by the Ashraf Ghani government with the militants fall apart. The Ramazan truce fire, which analysts claim was a move by the government towards reconciliation, failed to yield results as the militants have resumes the strikes after Eid al-Fitr. On the contrary, security experts claimed the ceasefire allowed Taliban bombing squad to spread in all parts of the state due to lax security measures adopted in the truce period.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 01, 2018 06:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).