ISIS claims deadly Afghan suicide attack–President Ghani

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. AP FILE PHOTO

JALALABAD, Afghanistan – The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Afghanistan Saturday that killed 33 people and wounded more than 100 others, President Ashraf Ghani said, in what appears to be the first major attack by the jihadists in the country.

Ghani’s government has repeatedly raised the ominous prospect of ISIS making inroads into Afghanistan, though the group that has captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq has never formally acknowledged having a presence in the country.

The Taliban have seen defections to the group in recent months, with some self-styled ISIS insurgents voicing their disaffection with their one-eyed supreme leader Mullah Omar, who has not been seen since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.