2 civilians killed, 4 injured in mine blast in S. Afghanistan

Two civilians were killed and four others injured Monday morning when a mine exploded in Gereshk district of southern Helmand province, spokesman for provincial government Daud Ahmadi said. "An explosive device was placed under a garbage heap in a vegetable market in the Gereshk district bazaar and was detonated at around 07:00 a.m. local time Monday killing two civilians and injuring four others," Ahmadi told Xinhua. Ahmadi blamed Taliban militants for attacking civilians since there was no government or military targets near the blast site which also damaged some shops in the province some 555 km south of capital city of Kabul. However, Taliban militants have not made comments yet. A total of 1,462 Afghan civilians were killed in the first half of 2011 in insurgency-hit country, a 15 percent rise over the same period of 2010, according to the United Nations mid-year report released in Kabul on July 14.