Eight children among 15 civilians killed by land mine in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) - Fifteen civilians, including eight children, were killed on Wednesday (Nov 27) when their vehicle hit a land mine in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, a government official said.

"At around 5pm this evening, a mine planted by the Taleban terrorists hit a civilian car... killing 15 civilians and wounding two more," said Mr Nasrat Rahimi, an interior ministry spokesman.

Six women and a man were also among those killed in the blast in Kunduz, on the country's northern border with Tajikistan, Mr Rahimi said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. It was also unclear if it was a targeted attack.

However, there are regular clashes in the region between the Taleban insurgents and United States-backed Afghan forces.

Insurgents attacked the provincial capital, also called Kunduz, in early September, but failed to capture it. The Taleban briefly seized the city in 2015.

The blast comes during what has been a period of relative and uneasy calm, where the rate of large-scale attacks has dropped in recent weeks.

The comparative lull followed a blood-stained presidential campaign season that ended with a general election on Sept 28.

NO VOTE RESULTS YET

But Wednesday's blast comes less than a week after a foreign national was killed and at least five other people wounded in a grenade attack on a United Nations vehicle in Kabul on Sunday.

The attack happened on a road frequently used by UN traffic shuttling workers between central Kabul and a large UN compound on the outskirts of the capital.

The UN said two other staff members - one Afghan and one international - were wounded.

Aid agencies and non-governmental groups are sometimes targeted in Afghanistan's war.

In 2011, seven foreign UN workers - including four Nepalis, a Swede, a Norwegian and a Romanian - were killed in an attack on a UN compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Afghans are still waiting for the results of that Sept 28 presidential election, with a recount bogged down by technical difficulties and bickering between the incumbent, President Ashraf Ghani, and his chief rival, Mr Abdullah Abdullah.

Afghans are also waiting to see what might happen in negotiations between Washington and the Taleban.

US President Donald Trump in September ended those year-long talks as Taleban violence continued, but last Friday, he suggested to US broadcaster Fox News that negotiations could be getting under way again.

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