A roadside bomb blast has killed at least 19 people, most of them women and children, on their way to a wedding in northern Afghanistan.
Police said 16 people were also wounded in the blast early on October 19 in the Dawlatabad district of Balkh Province.
No one has yet claimed responsibility, but similar attacks are usually blamed on Taliban militants.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying, "Planting a mine on a road used by civilians and the killing of innocent people represents hostility toward humanity."
Thousands of civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
The UN Security Council has expressed serious concern at the high number of civilian casualties in the war, noting that an increasingly large number are caused by the Taliban and other armed insurgent groups.
Northern Afghanistan has generally been one of the safest parts of the country, but Balkh has seen an increase in Taliban activity in recent years.
Separately, a collision between a bus and an oil tanker killed at least six soccer fans and injured 28 others overnight.
The fans were on their way from northern Jawzjan Province to Kabul.
Police said 16 people were also wounded in the blast early on October 19 in the Dawlatabad district of Balkh Province.
No one has yet claimed responsibility, but similar attacks are usually blamed on Taliban militants.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying, "Planting a mine on a road used by civilians and the killing of innocent people represents hostility toward humanity."
Thousands of civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
The UN Security Council has expressed serious concern at the high number of civilian casualties in the war, noting that an increasingly large number are caused by the Taliban and other armed insurgent groups.
Northern Afghanistan has generally been one of the safest parts of the country, but Balkh has seen an increase in Taliban activity in recent years.
Separately, a collision between a bus and an oil tanker killed at least six soccer fans and injured 28 others overnight.
The fans were on their way from northern Jawzjan Province to Kabul.