New Delhi:
At least five children were killed and 20 others injured on Saturday after an explosive device attached to a motorbike went off in a market in Afghanistan's western province.
According to provincial governor spokesman Jelani Farhad, the explosion took place in Herat province's Oba district. Farhad further said, “The target of the bombing is yet to be determined, but a remotely-controlled bomb went off when the district chief's vehicle was passing by the area's main market.”
In the meantime, five people including three civilians were wounded when an unknown man lobbed a hand grenade at a police checkpoint in Kama district of Nangarhar province.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The unfortunate incident comes at least a week after eight children were killed and two others sustained injuries in a roadside bomb explosion in the south-eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan. Taliban had claimed the responsibility for the attack.
It is to be noted that Taliban Have been using IED to target security forces.
According to a quarterly report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), explosive devices killed as many as 53 civilians and injured 269 others in the first three months of this year, a 21 percent increase from the same period last year.
In a statement, UNAMA said that it is very concerned by the increase in civilian casualties from the use of non-suicide IEDs.
It is to be noted that Afghanistan is suffering from an unstable political, social and security situation due to the activity of the Taliban movement and the Islamic State terrorist group. The national security forces are involved in anti-terrorist operations across the country. Civilians have repeatedly been caught up in the clashes, with UN statistics showing more than 32,000 killed and 60,000 injured in the past 10 years.
