Kabul, Nov 1 (IANS) Four children were killed when a roadside bomb went off in Afghanistan’s Wardak province, an official said.
‘Four innocent children, all members of the same family, were killed when a roadside bomb went off in Khawajagan village (near) provincial capital Maidan Shar late Monday,’ Shahidullah Shahid, spokesman for the provincial administration, told Xinhua Tuesday.
Shahid said the victims — three brothers and a sister aged seven to 16 years — were grazing their animals when the powerful blast occurred in the province where Taliban insurgents often attack security forces.
He blamed ‘enemies of Afghanistan’, a term often used by Afghan officials for referring to Taliban insurgents, for placing the bomb.
Taliban militants have been largely relying on roadside bombing and suicide attacks in fighting Afghan security forces and NATO-led troops based in Afghanistan, often causing civilian casualties.
Taliban is yet to comment.
A total of 1,462 Afghan civilians were killed in the first half of 2011, a 15 percent rise over the same period of 2010, according to the UN mid-year report released in Kabul in July this year.
