Roadside bomb kills 7 Afghan civilians

At least seven civilians, including a woman and three children, were killed when their truck hit a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.
The villagers were traveling from Pacheer Agam district to a nearby village in Nangarhar province, Hijratullah Rahmani district governor of Pacheer Agam said.
“Unfortunately, in the blast, seven civilians, including a woman and three children were killed and one wounded,” he said.
No one claimed responsibility, but the interior ministry in a statement blamed “enemies of peace and stability,” a term Afghan officials use to refer to Taliban.
Nangarhar is also home to Daesh, which is trying to expand its presence in Afghanistan by winning over sympathizers, recruiting followers and challenging the Taliban on their own turf.
Afghan civilians are paying a heavy price for the escalating conflict across the country. A total of 2,562 civilians were killed and another 5,835 wounded in the first nine months of 2016, according to a UN report.
Last week, more than 50 people, mostly civilians, were killed in multiple Taliban bombings across Afghanistan.
Also Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a Spanish employee of the aid group has been released less than a month after he was kidnapped by gunmen in northern Afghanistan.
The staff member, identified by the ICRC only as Juan Carlos, was traveling with three Afghan colleagues between Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz on Dec. 19, when gunmen stopped the vehicles.

Source: Arab News