Suicide bomber targets Afghan political rally

At least six people have been killed when a suicide bomber targeted a political rally in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday.

A crowd of supporters of President Ashraf Ghani gathered for a political rally when a militant riding a motorbike detonated his bomb belt amomg them, Nangarhar province's police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal said.

"Six people including a woman and a child have been killed and 13 more injured, all of them civilians," he told AFP by phone.

The death toll could rise as some of the wounded were in a serious condition.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Nangarhar province is considered a hotbed for the Islamic State group, which emerged in Afghanistan in late 2015.

The Taliban are also present in parts of the province.

IS insurgents have been targeted by US and Afghan forces, who claim to have contained the group to three provinces, down from nine.

Afghan forces claimed to have killed the commander of the Taliban's special forces unit last week in the group's Helmand province stronghold.

Militant attacks in eastern Afghanistan and the capital Kabul by IS and the Taliban have sharply spiked in recent months.

More than 200 people were killed in a week of attacks by the insurgents in October.

Next year will see long-delayed district and parliamentary elections, which would pave the way for a 2019 presidential ballot.

Agencies contributed to this story.