Kabul, February 26: nine civilians, including children and women, have been killed after a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in volatile eastern Afghanistan, officials say.
The civilians were driving into Khost city, capital of Khost province, when their van was strcuk by the explosion,
“Three women, four children and two men were killed by the roadside bomb explosion. They were all civilians,” Khost’s deputy provincial police chief, Mohammad Yaqoub Mandozai, said.
On Feb. 18, at least nine people were killed and more than thirty others, including women and children, injured in a car bomb attack on a police station in the same city.
Police and officials have frequently been the target of attacks by Taliban militants. On February 4, a car bomb exploded near the house of a police chief in Kandahar, injuring two people.
The Afghan interior ministry said last month that last year saw an increase in the number of civilians’ deaths since the US-led invasion in 2001.
The ministry stated that more than 2,000 civilians lost their lives in violence across Afghanistan, making 2010 the deadliest year ever for civilian casualties in the war-hit country.
—–Agencies