KABUL — A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus on their way to meet Afghanistan’s president in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday, killing at least 19 people.

Inamullah Miakhail, spokesman for the provincial hospital in Nangarhar, said that 17 out of 19 dead in the attack are from the minority Sikh and Hindu community.

Miakhail added that at least ten of the 20 wounded were also from the same minority community and are undergoing treatment at a Jalalabad hospital.

Narendr Singh, one of the Sikhs wounded in Sunday’s attack, said by phone from his hospital bed in Jalalabad that the attack targeted their convoy. He cried on the phone, worrying what had happened to his father, Avtar Singh Khalsa, who was also in the convoy.

Miakhail confirmed that Khalsa, a longtime leader of the Sikh community who had planned to run in the parliamentary elections set for October, was killed in the attack.

Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said that a number of shops and vehicles caught fire as result of the attack.

General Ghulam Sanayee Stanekzai, Nangarhar’s police chief, said that the attacker targeted the group on its way to the governor’s compound. They had planned to meet with President Ashraf Ghani, who was visiting the region on Sunday.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sikhs and Hindus have long suffered widespread discrimination in the conservative Muslim country.

Associated Press