KANDAHAR: At least 11
civilians were
killed when a roadside
bomb ripped through their vehicle in the restive southern
Afghan province of Helmand, officials said on Saturday.
The
blast occurred when the passengers were travelling from remote Nawa district to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah on Friday, government spokesman Omar Zhwak told AFP.
"The
blast was powerful and all those on board the van were killed," Zhwak said, adding that officials were trying to determine whether any women or children were among the victims.
Helmand police chief Agha **or Kentoz blamed the Taliban for the blast, saying the road had been mined to target
Afghan security forces who frequently use it.
The Taliban were **t immediately reachable for comment, but roadside bombs have been the militants´ ****** of choice in their war against foreign and
Afghan security forces. The bombs also increasingly kill and wound civilians.
Most of Helmand, the biggest poppy-growing province, is already estimated to be under Taliban control, with the capital Lashkar Gah -- one of the last government-held enclaves -- also at the risk of falling to the Taliban´s repeated ferocious assaults.
Around 11,500
civilians -- one third of them children -- were
killed or wounded in Afghanistan in 2016, according to the United Nations, the highest recorded by the world body.
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