Nine killed by Afghan bomb en route to wedding


Nine killed by Afghan bomb en route to wedding AFP/File – A policeman stands guard at Pul-e Khumri in the Baghlan province of Afghanistan in 2009. Nine civilians

by Enayat Najafizada Enayat Najafizada – Sun Jan 16, 10:40 am ET

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AFP) – Nine civilians including a child were killed by a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan as they travelled to a wedding on Sunday, 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 told AFP.

"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.

There are around 140,000 international troops, two-thirds of them from the United States, in the country fighting the Taliban insurgents who were ousted from power in a 2001 US-led invasion.

International troops are due to start a limited, conditions-based withdrawal from Afghanistan from July, and Afghan forces are scheduled to take over responsibility for security in 2014.

Last year saw the highest death toll yet for international troops serving in Afghanistan. According to the independent iCasualties.org website, the toll stood at 711, while a total of 18 have died so far this year.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of staff, warned last week that levels of violence in Afghanistan "will be worse in 2011 than it was in 2010 in many parts".

He added that gains made so far were "tenuous and fragile", echoing comments by President Barack Obama in his review of war strategy last month.