Minibus explosion kills 17 in Afghanistan

A BOMB tore through a minibus in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing 17, half of them children, in the second deadly attack in less than a week to be blamed on Taliban guerrillas.

The bomb exploded at 8.00am just outside Helmand province’s capital Lashkar Gah, 340 miles southwest of Kabul, provincial security chief Abdul Rahman Sabir said.

“It was a massive explosion. Police gathered body parts from the area and after we gathered all the body parts we reckoned 17 people were killed,” he said. “Half of them were children.”

He blamed Taliban and al-Qaida militants, who are believed to be behind a series of attacks in Afghanistan’s restive south and east.

“We have reports that they are planning more bomb attacks,” he said.

Sixteen of the victims died immediately, while another three people including the driver were injured.

The Toyota minibus was on a 20-mile journey from the Marja district of Helmand to Lashkar Gah when the bomb exploded.

Fighters loyal to al-Qaida, Islamist rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Taliban regime have been intensifying a guerrilla insurgency against US-led coalition troops, Afghan forces and relief agencies in recent months.

Afghan officials have repeatedly charged that key commanders of the Taliban, which was ousted 20 months ago by coalition forces, are operating out of Pakistan’s tribal borderlands.

Last Thursday, seven Afghans, including six soldiers and a driver for US aid organisation Mercy Corps, died in an attack some 62 miles from Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.

Dishu officials blamed Taliban guerrillas and alleged they fled towards Pakistan after the assault.

Afghan officials warned of further terror attacks by Taliban and al-Qaida following a suicide car bombing in June, which killed four German peacekeepers and injured 29 in Kabul.

In Kabul on Tuesday, two student al-Qaida militants were killed when a bomb they were preparing exploded in their house. US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis warned in July that Taliban and al-Qaida remnants were likely to turn to terror attacks following their failure on the battlefield.