At least two people, including a pro-government local leader, were killed and eight civilians wounded in a bomb attack in Afghanistan's northern province of Takhar on Sunday, local police said.

The blast occurred in a hotel in Ishkamish district Sunday morning, provincial police spokesman Abdul Khalil Aseer told Xinhua.

The initial information found that the target of the attack was Nazuk Mir, a former jihadi commander, who has been killed in the explosion, Aseer said, adding the casualties were shifted to a hospital in the district, southwestern of provincial capital Taluqan city.

Authorities have initiated an investigation into the incident.

The Taliban outfit and Islamic State (IS) militant group often target civilians and religious clerics as well as local leaders for their support to the Afghan government and the U.S.-led forces stationed in the country.

More than 650 Afghans were killed and over 560 others wounded by the targeted attacks in 2016 across the country, according to official figures.

source: AFP