A suicide bombing has killed 34 and injured 60 people who were queuing at the New Kabul Bank branch in Lashkar Gah city, Helmand province. Most of the injured were referred to the DG ECHO financed EMERGENCY trauma hospital: ten of them are in need of complex surgery. The blast damaged some of the windows of the hospital but did not cause injuries inside the compound. Lashkar Gah city is the only place in Helmand province that is controlled by the government. It is used as safe haven by IDPs fleeing the zones where heavy fighting occurs. The overall security and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan continues to deteriorate rapidly: the number of civilian casualties and IDPs is expected to set a new record in 2017.