Bomb kills villagers on way to Bazaar
A Taliban roadside bomb killed 15 civilians in a dangerous and remote region of southern Afghanistan.
The attack happened yesterday afternoon as a pick-up truck carrying villagers to a nearby bazaar rolled over the bomb, detonating it in the Khan Neshin district of Helmand province, said Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial governor.
“It was a very heavy explosion, the vehicle was destroyed,” Mr Ahmadi said from Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand. Mr Ahmadi said all the victims were men.
The governor’s office in Helmand blamed the attack on the Taliban, calling it “the enemy of people and the country”.
Nato forces have poured troops into the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, making some progress in routing the Taliban. But fighting and insurgent attacks have continued.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew up a stolen police car that had been packed with explosives, injuring at least 14 people near an army checkpoint in northern Afghanistan today.
Muhbobullah Sayedi, the spokesman for the governor of Kunduz province, said the force of the blast destroyed several nearby homes.
The only person killed was the suicide bomber, but five Afghan soldiers and nine civilians were injured.
The attack happened in Chahar Dara district, the most volatile district in the northern region.
