JALALABAD – A suicide attack on protesters in eastern Afghanistan onTuesday killed at least 32 people, officials said, as an uptick in violenceacross the war-torn country dampens hopes for peace talks and elections.

There were chaotic scenes at several hospitals as medical staff struggledto treat 128 people wounded by the powerful blast in Nangarhar province.

Gul Majid was among scores of protesters blocking the highway between theprovincial capital of Jalalabad and a major Pakistan border crossing whenhe “heard a big bomb”. “Then I saw flesh, blood and people wounded allaround me,” Majid told AFP outside one of the hospitals. “I am stilllooking for my friends. I don t know whether they are alive or dead.”

The men had been protesting over the appointment of a local police chief,provincial governor spokesman Ataullah Khogyani said. Provincial healthdirector Najibullah Kamawal and Khogyani both confirmed the latest casualtytoll.

The attack came hours after a double bombing in front of a girls school inthe provincial capital Jalalabad, which killed a boy and wounded fourothers. The first explosion happened in front of Malika Omaira girlsschool at around 8:30 am (0400 GMT), Khogyani told AFP earlier.

A second bomb went off as students from a neighbouring boys school andlocals gathered at the scene, he added. There has been no claim ofresponsibility for any of the attacks, but the Taliban and the IslamicState (IS) group are active in Nangarhar.

A wave of violence across Afghanistan in recent weeks has claimed the livesof hundreds of civilians and security forces, as the Taliban makes gains onthe battlefield and IS launches deadly urban attacks.

The fighting has tempered optimism that had been tentatively growing asAfghan and international players ratchet up efforts to convince the Talibanto negotiate an end to the 17-year conflict.

An unprecedented ceasefire in June followed by talks between US officialsand Taliban representatives in Qatar in July raised hopes that peacenegotiations could bring an end to the fighting. There has been speculationthe two sides will meet again this month.

The Taliban have long insisted on direct talks with Washington and refusedto negotiate with the Afghan government, which they see as illegitimate.But newly appointed US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has cancelled further talkswith the militants until he has reviewed the American strategy, a Westernofficial in Kabul told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The information could not be immediately confirmed. One militant source, asenior Taliban commander based in neighbouring Pakistan, had told AFP heexpected more talks to be held “soon”.——————————

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The intensified fighting has also fuelled speculation over whetherAfghanistan s long-delayed parliamentary elections will go ahead on October20. The country s already overstretched security forces will be tasked withprotecting thousands of polling stations around the country at a time whenthey are already struggling to beat back insurgents.

Delivering ballot papers and monitoring the vote, which is seen as a testrun for next year s presidential election, will be challenging, officialshave warned. There are already concerns about widespread fraud.

In the past two days Taliban fighters killed nearly 60 members of thesecurity forces in a spate of attacks in the country s north and threateneda provincial capital for the second time in as many months.

After seizing a military base in Sar-e-Pul, Taliban fighters were closingin on the provincial capital in a situation that could result in “disaster”if reinforcements were not sent, the area s police chief Abdul QayomBaqizoy warned on Monday.

Baqizoy compared the threat to the Taliban s extraordinary raid last monthon the provincial capital of Ghazni — fighters held large parts of thecity located just two hours from Kabul for days. On Tuesday security forceshad managed to push back Taliban fighters by a couple of kilometres, localsand officials told AFP. – APP/AFP