Asia

Home page

Asia

Roadside bomb kills four civilians in eastern Afghanistan

03 March 2012 23:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Four civilian motorists have been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The civiliansâ€™ car ran over a buried explosive device at around 7:30 a.m. local time (0330 GMT) on Saturday in the Khogyani district of the province, which is located 120 kilometers (74 miles) east of the Afghan capital Kabul.

The four victims, including a teenager, were all part of the same family.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for placing the bomb.

Roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are by far the most lethal weapon Taliban militants use against Afghan forces, foreign troops, and civilians.

Homemade explosives accounted for half of the roughly 1,500 civilian deaths in the first six months of 2011, according to the United Nations.

Insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of 130,000 US-led forces in the war-torn country.

The United Nations announced on February 4 that 2011 was the deadliest year on record for Afghan civilians. The death toll rose eight percent compared to the year before and was roughly double the figure for 2007.

Overall, 3,021 civilians died in violence related to the war and 4,507 were wounded in 2011. Of the deaths, the UN attributed 77 percent to militant attacks and 14 percent to US-led foreign troops and Afghan forces. Nine percent of the cases were classified as unknown.