People carrying a coffin of one of the victims after a drone strike, in Khogyani district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan on Friday — AFP KABUL, Sept 20 (AFP): The death toll from a massive Taliban bomb attack which flattened a hospital in southern Afghanistan earlier this week has risen to at least 39, officials said Friday.
The jump in the toll from the blast, which took place in the town of Qalat in Zabul province on Thursday, takes the total number of people killed in just three days of violence across the war-torn country this week to at least 91.
"The toll from the hospital attack in Qalat has jumped to 39 killed, 140 others wounded," Gul Islam Seyal, the spokesman for the provincial governor, told AFP.
Earlier, authorities had said the blast had killed 20 people.
Another official put the toll even higher Friday, at 41.
The surge in violence, with civilians paying the heaviest price, has come after US President Donald Trump called off talks with the Taliban that could have seen Washington begin withdrawing troops, and as the country gears up for a presidential election.
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