11 killed, 4 wounded in twin blasts in central Afghanistan
Kabul, Oct 20 (efe-epa).- At least 11 civilians were killed and another four were wounded on Tuesday in twin roadside bombings by the Taliban in the central province of Maidan Wardak in Afghanistan, officials said.
The blasts occurred around 5.30 am in Jalriz district along a highway connecting the capital city of Kabul to central Bamyan province through Maidan Wardak.
The first explosion hit a car while the second one hit a mini-van. Both vehicles were transporting civilians, including children and women, from Kabul to their native villages in Bamyan province, Maidan Wardak governor’s spokesperson Muhibullah Sharifzai told EFE.
“As a result of the twin blasts, 11 passengers, all of them civilians, were martyred and another four people were injured,” Maidan Wardak police spokesperson Mohammad Ofiani confirmed to EFE.
Ofiani revealed the explosions were caused by land mines placed by the Taliban to target the vehicles of the security forces and civilians in what is considered an insecure part of the province.
Militants have a strong presence in Jalriz district, where they have planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on most of the roads to prevent the mobility of the Afghan security forces in the area.
In the same area, the Afghan special forces carried out an operation overnight against the siege of an army base by militants for weeks, as they cut off all reinforcement and supply lines.
Afghan commandos successfully broke the siege and provided supplies and reinforcement to the base, even though the roads were planted with IEDs.
The most recent blasts have occurred at a moment when violence resulting in civilian casualties has been on rise in the country, especially in recent weeks.
At least 15 people, most of them civilians, were killed and another 150 were injured in a car bombing perpetrated by militants in the western province of Ghor on Sunday.
Meanwhile, both the Afghan government and the Taliban claim their forces remain in defensive posture as a result of the ongoing intra-Afghan talks to usher in peace in the country after nearly two decades of conflict.
The talks are a result of a peace deal signed between the United States and the insurgents in the Qatari capital of Doha on Feb.29 that laid the ground work for the phased withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in return for guarantees that the Asian country would not be used for acitivities against Washington. EFE-EPA
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