RAWA news - The Reality of Life In Afghanistan
written by Staff
Thursday August 18, 2011
Afghan officials said the roadside bomb in Herat was planted by the Taliban.
At least 22 people have been killed and many wounded when a roadside bomb hit a crowded minibus in the Afghan province of Herat, officials say.
Officials said the bus was full and women and children were among the casualties.
It was travelling from Obe district to the provincial capital, which recently passed to the control of Afghan forces.
Earlier on Thursday, a suicide attack at a US-run base in eastern Paktia province killed two Afghan guards.
"It was a big, powerful blast," the Associated Press news agency quoted Abdul Bashir, a village elder, as saying.
"Among the dead are men, women and children. The bodies are not easily recognisable."
The bus was on its way to a market where the passengers were going to shop, the agency quoted Mohyuddin Noori, a spokesman for the province's governor, as saying.
Afghan officials said the roadside bomb in Herat was planted by the Taliban.
Last December, 14 people were killed when a bus hit an explosive planted in the same area.
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are widely used by insurgents. Their intended targets are Afghan or international security forces but because they are left unsupervised and activated by a pressure plate, civilian vehicles often detonate the explosives.
IEDs are to blame for the majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan.
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The Times of India
written by Staff
Friday August 19, 2011
KABUL: A roadside bomb killed at least 21 passengers travelling on a minibus on Thursday in western Afghanistan, another example of civilians being caught in the crossfire of fighting between Taliban insurgents and the US-led coalition.
In the country's east, a suicide car bomber attacked a coalition base on Thursday, killing two Afghan security guards, officials said, and the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
The minibus ran over a roadside bomb in Obe district in Herat province, setting off a blast that killed 21 passengers, said Gen Zaiuddin Mamoodi, an Afghan National Police commander for four provinces of western Afghanistan.
Twelve of the victims were children under the age of 5, three were women and six were men, he said. Eleven others were wounded, he said.
"It was a big, powerful blast. The bodies are not easily recognisable," said Abdul Bashir, an elder of a village in the district.
Mohyuddin Noori, a spokesman for the province's governor, said the bus was on its way to a bazaar where the passengers were going to shop.
Noori also said that a small truck hit another roadside bomb Thursday morning in the same district, seriously wounding at least four civilians.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the US-led coalition condemned the bombings.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing at a provincial reconstruction team base that Americans operate near Gardez, the capital of Paktia province.
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