At least 11 civilians, including three children, have been killed in northwest Afghanistan when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, officials said on June 6.
The incident happened at around 5.30 p.m. local time on June 5 in the Chalank village of Badghis Province, regional governor Hesamuddin Shams said. The passengers were on their way to the provincial capital, Qala-e-Naw, he said.
The minivan fell into a valley with the shock of the blast, Shams said, adding that rescuers were still searching for the bodies.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but local officials accused the Taliban of planting the bomb to target security forces. There was no immediate response from the militant group.
Large swathes of the war-torn country are littered with land mines and roadside bombs. Many were planted by militants to target government military convoys, but they often kill civilians instead.
The United Nations has repeatedly called on both government forces and the Taliban to take more precautions to protect civilians.
The UN mission in Afghanistan says that 1,783 civilians had been killed or wounded in the country in the first three months of 2021. It marks an increase of 29 percent over the same period last year.