Kabul, Jan 2 (IANS) Five Afghan civilians were killed while 18 others were wounded Thursday in an explosion in the country’s eastern province of Logar, authorities said.
“An improvised explosive device (IED) attached to a motorcycle was detonated around 4 p.m. local time in Baraki Barak district bazaar. The initial investigation shows one suspected man set off the IED and a pursuit operation was now launched against the fleeing militant,” Mohammad Rahim Amin, the governor of the district, told Xinhua.
Two women and a child were among those killed, he said, blaming the Taliban insurgent group for the explosion.
None of the injured sustained life-threatening wounds, he noted.
The Taliban insurgents fighting Afghan forces and more than 84,000 NATO-led international coalition troops recently announced they would continue attacks against government and foreign soldiers, saying there would be no pause in Taliban activities during the winter.
More than 2,700 civilians were killed and over 5,000 injured in conflict-related violence in 2013 in the war-torn country, according to Afghan and UN mission officials.