by Zabihullah Tamanna
KABUL, Afghanistan
At least 15 civilians were killed in three separate bomb attacks across Afghanistan, local officials said on Saturday. The deaths were blamed on the Taliban.
A roadside bomb in Andar district of Ghazni province, 145 kilometers (90 miles) south of capital Kabul, killed at least seven civilians on Friday afternoon. Most of the victims were women and children.
“They were on their way back from a wedding party when the blast took place,” Khaliqdad Akbari, head of the provincial council, told Anadolu Agency. “At least seven, all civilians, were killed while six others were wounded.”
He said the Taliban, who launched their nationwide spring offensive in April, had been particularly active in the district and had planted hundreds of landmines and improvised explosive devices to target Afghan security forces.
Another roadside bomb in Taghrok, southern Kandahar province, killed at least six civilians, including four women, on late Friday afternoon, a spokesman for the provincial governor said. The Ariana News TV station reported that all six belonged to the same family.
In Kabul, a woman and her child were killed on Friday evening, police chief Humayon Aini said. The explosion was from a magnetic bomb that had been attached to a military vehicle.
The number of civilians dying in Afghanistan continues to rise with civilian causalities for first quarter of 2015 reaching an all-time high.
A new study by Brown University in the U.S. showed that at least 100,000 civilians have been killed since the Taliban was toppled in late 2001.
