At least 11 women died in a crush at a football stadium in Afghanistan on Wednesday as thousands of people amassed to get visas to leave the country, officials said.
Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of the eastern Nangarhar province, said a further 13 people, mostly women, were injured at the Jalalabad stadium, where they were trying to get visas to enter Pakistan.
He said most of those who died were elderly people and they came from across Afghanistan.
Separately, at least 36 Afghan police were killed in an ambush by Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan, officials said.
It was the deadliest attack since the Taliban and the Afghan government began holding long-delayed peace talks last month, part of a process launched under a deal signed between the US and the insurgents in February. The talks are seen as the country’s best chance for peace after decades of war.
Rahim Danish, the director of the main hospital in northern Takhar province, confirmed receiving 36 bodies and said that another eight security forces personnel were wounded.
An Afghan security official said the forces were in a convoy that was ambushed. The official, who was not authorised to brief media on the event and so spoke on condition of anonymity, said several police Humvees were set ablaze. Jawad Hijri, a spokesman for the provincial government, said the deputy police chief was among those killed.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan’s president, speaking to parliament, said: “Why are the Taliban killing Afghans?” The Taliban still believed, he suggested, in a “false narrative of conquest”, following a spate of recent attacks, especially in Helmand province.
The Pakistani consulate in Nangarhar was closed for almost eight months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Anticipating a large crowd officials decided to use the stadium and assigned 320 staff to help manage the process, Khogyani said.
Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul said it had issued more than 19,000 visas in the past week alone after Islamabad approved a “friendlier” visa policy and reopened the border in September following months of closure.
Millions of Afghans have fled to Pakistan to escape war and economic hardship, while thousands travel back and forth for work and business or to receive healthcare.