Two civilians die in bomb blast in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Aug 22 (Xinhua): Two Afghan civilians were killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in southern Kandahar province on Friday, the military said Saturday.

"The incident occurred in Shah Joy locality of Shah Wali Kot district when a van touched off a pressure-plate IED, detonating the device late Friday night.

Two civilians aboard the vehicle were died and the vehicle destroyed in the blast," army's 205 Attal Corps said in a statement.

In a separate incident, two militants were killed when they tried to plant an IED in Shah Wali Kot but the device exploded accidently on the same day in the region, 450 km south of Kabul, the statement added.

In another development, Afghan Air Force targeted and destroyed an explosive-laden hijacked military vehicle in Qaisar district of northern Faryab province overnight, the command of Afghan Special Forces confirmed in a statement.

The militants planned to use the vehicle to launch a suicide car bombing against security forces' position in province, 425 km northwest of Kabul.