Kabul, February 28: A mine explosion on Sunday in southern Afghanistan killed 11 civilians, including women and children, a provincial spokesman said.
The attack in southern province of Helmand, where thousands of Afghan and NATO forces have been taking part in the biggest-ever operation against the Taliban, happened when the civilians were travelling in a trailer attached to a farming tractor in province’s Nawzad district, a government spokesman said.
“A mine struck a tractor in Khewaja Jamal area and killed 11 civilians, including two women and two children,” Daoud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand’s provincial governor, told DPA.
The dead were members of the same family, he said.
No group immediately took responsibility for Sunday’s attack.
Ahmadi blamed “enemies of our people”, a common term used by Afghan officials to describe Taliban militants, for the attack.
—Agencies