KUNDUZ (AFGHANISTAN) (TIP): A suicide attack at a funeral in northern Afghanistan killed at least nine people on December 2, officials said, underlining nationwide insecurity as Nato troops end their 13-year war this month. The blast followed a series of attacks in the capital Kabul which have heightened concerns that Afghanistan could tip into a spiral of violence as the US-led military presence declines.

The embattled Kabul police chief who tendered his resignation on Sunday will stay on in the role, a spokesman said, as Afghanistan struggles to respond to rising militant unrest. Nato’s force in Afghanistan will change on December 31 from a combat mission to a support role, with troop numbers cut to about 12,500 — down from a peak of 130,000 in 2010. “A suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives among people who were attending a funeral ceremony in Burka district this morning,” Aminullah Amarkhil, police chief of Baghlan province, told AFP. “Initial reports show nine people, including two police, were killed and around 18 wounded.” Amarkhil said the funeral was for a tribal elder in Baghlan, a province on the main road from Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif that has suffered worsening security in recent years.

Taj Mohammad Taqwa, the district chief of Burka, confirmed the death toll to AFP. “The target was probably a number of high-ranking police officials and provincial council members who were attending the ceremony,” he said. “They are unharmed.” There was no immediate claim of responsibility. A Taliban attack on Saturday in Kabul killed a South African father running an education charity and his two teenage children.