Kandahar, Afghanistan: A roadside bomb struck a family travelling home after visiting a shrine yesterday in southern Afghanistan, killing five people, including four children.
The blast occurred in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar, near the Pakistan border, a day after a suicide bombing killed as many as 20 people at a crowded bazaar in Dihrawud in Uruzgan province, underscoring the dangers facing civilians as fighting intensifies in Afghanistan.
Those killed yesterday included the mother, three boys and a girl, according to Abdul Razaq, a local border security commander. He said the father and another male relative were wounded.
Police believe the family's vehicle wasn't targeted but hit a land mine meant for police or other officials who are frequently attacked by insurgents, according to Razaq.
Afghan civilians have increasingly been caught in the middle as violence increases with an influx of US and other foreign forces aimed at routing the Taliban.
Reaching out
A recent UN report showed that Taliban suicide bombings and other attacks caused Afghan civilian deaths to soar last year to the highest annual level of the war, to 2,412 — a 14 per cent increase over the 2,118 who died in 2008. Nearly 70 per cent of those were caused by insurgents.
The Afghan government has been reaching out to Taliban insurgents willing to renounce violence, offering jobs, vocational training and other economic incentives to entice them away from the fight.
Nine Taliban fighters, including a commander identified as Nasir Ahmad, surrendered their weapons late on Thursday to authorities in eastern Kunar province, according to the provincial governor. They turned in one rocket-propelled grenade, four AK-47s and ammunition.
Nato forces assisted, taking biometric information such as fingerprints. The ex-insurgents will be monitored for a period as they are integrated back into society, spokesman Lt Nico Melendez said. The men also promised to renounce violence and pledged loyalty to the Afghan government.
Governor Sayed Fazelullah Wahidi said it was the first group to surrender in Kunar, although other cases have been reported elsewhere.
