Suicide bomb kills 33 at Afghan bank in deadliest attack in 2015

A suicide bomber killed 33 Afghan civilians and wounded more than a hundred outside a bank on Saturday in the deadliest attack this year in Afghanistan.

The bomber detonated his vest outside New Kabul Bank in Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, said Police Chief Fazl Ahmad Sherzad. Dozens of people were waiting to collect salaries at the bank. Taliban fighters denied any involvement, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said by phone.

The Taliban are trying to regain power as the US reduces its military presence after 14 years of war. Fighters have resumed attacks after the usual period of quiet during cold, winter months.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who took office about six months ago condemned, the attack Saturday. The violence is "inhuman and un-Islamic," he said, an in e-mailed statement from his office. It "is adding to Afghan Muslims' hatred against the perpetrators."

On April 10, more than 20 soldiers were killed after Taliban members swarmed army posts in northeastern Badakhshan province. The Taliban killed 18 people including prosecutors on April 9 at the attorney general's branch office in northern Mazar-e-Sharif city. After the attack at the bank Saturday, Afghan police disarmed two other explosive devices on motorcycles, according to an e-mailed statement from the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State (IS) group claimed to have carried out the deadly suicide attack, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said, in what, if verified, would be the first major attack claimed by the group in the country.

"Who claimed responsibility for horrific attack in Nangarhar today? The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the attack, Daesh (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack," President Ghani said on a visit to Badakhshan.

A person purporting to be an IS spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to AFP and in an online posting, although the claims could not be immediately verified.