Roadside bomb kills 10 Afghan civilians

KABUL: At least 10 Afghan civilians were killed and several injured Thursday in a roadside bombing in the southern province of Helmand, officials said.

The bomb triggered by militants went off in a crowded area of the Nahr-e-Saraj district and killed more than 10 people, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

Daoud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said a public mini-bus triggered the bomb. The number of civilian casualties was 14, he said, but he could not immediately break down that number into those injured and killed.

Afghan security and ISAF forces responded to the scene of the blast to provide medical assistance and evacuate wounded, ISAF said.

Its member countries have poured troops this year into Helmand and the neighbouring province of Kandahar, both Taliban strongholds, reporting some fragile yet reversible progress against the Taliban.

Fighting and militant attacks have continued throughout the country, even affecting some previously peaceful areas of Afghanistan.

The battle against the Taliban insurgency has tallied the highest civilian death toll this year. More than 2,400 civilians were killed by Afghan soldiers, foreign troops and Taliban militants in the first 10 months of this year, a 25 percent increase over last year, according to the UN.