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Narendra Modi condemns Jalalabad attack, Sushma to meet victims’ kin

(180701) -- JALALABAD, July 1, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security force members inspect the site of a suicide attack in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, July 1, 2018. Up to 15 people were killed and 20 others injured as a motor bomb rocked Jalalabad city, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday, provincial government spokesman Attaullah Khogiani said. (Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi)(yg)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday “strongly” condemned the terror attack in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city that killed at least 19, including many Sikhs on Sunday, and offered India’s assistance to Kabul.

“We strongly condemn the terror attacks in Afghanistan yesterday. They are an attack on Afghanistan’s multicultural fabric. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I pray that the injured recover soon. “India stands ready to assist the Afghanistan government in this sad hour,” Modi said on Twitter.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also expressed her condolences to the families of the victims and said she would be meeting them on Monday.

“My heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the terror attack… We are with them in this hour of tragedy. I am meeting their relatives today at 6 p.m. in Jawaharlal Nehru Bhavan,” she tweeted.A suicide bomber blew himself up in Jalalabad, where President Ashraf Ghani was to hold a meeting with provincial officials. A Sikh candidate for the upcoming October parliamentary polls was among those killed.

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