Nine killed by Afghan bomb en route to wedding

Nine civilians including a child were killed by a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan as they travelled to a wedding yesterday, police and local officials said.

Six women, two men and the child died in the blast, which happened as the vehicle they were travelling in headed from Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province, to a local village on a road often used by foreign forces.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast. The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“A mine struck a civilian minibus,” provincial governor Abdul Majeed said.

“Nine civilians – six women, a child and two men – have been killed. The road is often used by the PRT (provincial reconstruction team) soldiers. All the casualties are civilians.”

Hungarian soldiers are stationed in the province as part of the PRT, which aims to help local government work more effectively.

The incident was also confirmed by Major Qudratullah, a spokesman for police in Baghlan province.

The incident came a day after six civilians were killed by a roadside bomb which hit a minibus in the Sangin district of southern Afghanistan’s troubled Helmand province.

Helmand provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi said that those killed Saturday dead were all relatives of a local tribal chief, Haji Zainullah, and that three more people were wounded in the incident.

Afghanistan’s interior ministry says that last year 2,043 civilians died as a result of Taliban attacks and military operations targeting the militants.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or home-made bombs are the weapon of choice for insurgents and are a frequent cause of death for civilians in Afghanistan.