Afghanistan: Roadside blast kills 8 civilians

KABUL, Afghanistan

A roadside landmine killed eight civilians, including four children, in Afghanistan just days after a similar incident claimed the lives of six schoolchildren, an official confirmed on Monday.

According to police, the incident took place on the outskirts of the city of Pul-e-Khumri in the northern Baghlan province, north of the capital Kabul.

Ahmad Jawed, police spokesman, told Anadolu Agency that a passenger car carrying civilians hit the roadside landmine in the Taliban-controlled Dand-e-Shahabuddin area in the morning.

According to local Salam Watandar radio, two women, two men, and four children are among those killed, while six more people were injured in the attack, which has not been claimed by any group of individual.

On Saturday, an identical roadside blast in a Taliban-controlled area in the Takhar province claimed the lives of at least five schoolchildren.

According to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, the past six months were the deadliest months for civilians in Afghanistan ever, with 6,487 civilians -- including women and children -- killed or injured (1,611 killed and 4,876 injured) during the armed conflict in the country.