Three civilians die in blast near peace convoy
A remote-controlled bomb detonated near a convoy of international peacekeepers in northern Afghanistan today, killing three passing civilians, police said.
The roadside bomb exploded at about 10am (5.30am Irish time) in Kunduz, 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of the capital Kabul, said Mutaleb Beg, the police chief of Kunduz province.
Officials in Kabul for the Nato-led international peacekeeping force, which has a small contingent of German soldiers in Kunduz, could not immediately be reached for comment.
“The convoy was passing through the Gandum Bazaar market when a mine was detonated on the edge of the road by remote control,” Beg said.
He said two students and an elderly man were killed and that an Afghan driver for the international troops and another student were injured.
Beg had no further details.
Violence is spreading across Afghanistan amid preparations for its first post-Taliban elections in September.
