Afghan roadside bomb kills 20 wedding guests
A heavy roadside bomb blast, on Friday, ripped through a minibus claimed 19 lives including mostly women and children, and wounding 16 others. The district police commander told that six children and seven women were among those killed in the blast. He further told the wedding had occurred Thursday, and the party was heading to the groom’s home to congratulate the newlyweds according to tradition.
The incident took place in the northern province of Balkh, in the district of Dawlatabad some 40 KMs from the Mazar-i-Sharif. The blast victims were taken to a hospital in Balkh’s capital, Mazar-e-Sharif.
No group immediately claimed of responsibility, however similar attacks are generally blamed on Taliban. The president Karzai strongly condemned the attack.
A U.N. report released in August claims improvised explosive devices used by Talibans remain the leading cause of deaths among Afghan women and children. It condemned what it called the “indiscriminate” use of such bombs and demanded that insurgents immediately stop “deliberate” killings of civilians
