KUNAR, Dec 21 (AFP): A roadside bomb and a Taliban attack on a police post have killed 14 people including children in Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.
Seven civilians died when a bomb hit a pickup truck travelling from Asadabad, the capital of the eastern province of Kunar, to Nari district near the border with Pakistan on Saturday.
"Last evening a pickup truck, with women and children onboard, was blown up by a roadside bomb, that killed seven people including two little girls," Nari police chief Mohammad Yousuf told AFP.
He blamed the Taliban for the blast, which also left three women wounded.
Mohammad Rahman Danish, the district chief of Nari, confirmed the incident, part of worsening violence as US-led foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan after 13 years of fighting.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but roadside bombs are the Taliban's weapon of choice in their battle against Afghan and foreign forces. The bombs also increasingly kill and wound civilians.
A UN report released on Friday said 3,188 civilians had been killed and 6,429 injured as of the end of November.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report warned that civilian casualties were expected to exceed 10,000 by the end of the year, making it the deadliest year for non-combatants since the organisation began issuing its reports in 2009.
Compared to 2013, this year saw a 33 percent rise in casualties among children and a 12 percent increase among women.
The Taliban were accountable for 75 percent of all civilian casualties, the report said.
Casualties among Afghan troops and police have also soared as they rather than foreign troops bear the brunt of the fighting. More than 4,600 were killed in the first 10 months of this year.
