Four civilians killed, 20 injured in blast in northern Afghanistan

Oct 3, 2009, 14:48 GMT

Kunduz, Afghanistan - A bomb hidden in a motorbike exploded in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing four civilians and injuring 20 others, the provincial governor of Kunduz said.

The blast occurred in main market of Kunduz's Emamsaheb district Saturday evening, Mohammad Omar, the provincial governor told the German Press Ageny dpa.

'Four people are dead and 20 others were injured in the explosion,' he said, adding that all the victims were civilians, including shopkeepers and street vendors.

The target of the attack was not known and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Omar blamed Islamic extremist Taliban, who have been speedily spreading their influence in the northern region.

Jama Khan, the district governor for Emamsaheb, also confirmed the attack, saying there were no Afghan security forces or German troops present in the area at the time of the explosion. Around 4,000 German troops are stationed in the northern region.

Afghan civilians have borne the brunt of Taliban-led attacks in the past eight years since the ouster of the Taliban regime in a US- led military invasion.

A total of 1,500 civilians were killed in the country between January to August this year, according to a United Nations report. The report blamed the Taliban for the deaths of three quarters of the civilians, while the rest were killed by Afghan and NATO-led forces, mostly in airstrikes.

The blast came a day after Taliban insurgents burned two fuel tanker trucks near Kunduz's capital city. The trucks were completely destroyed but the two drivers managed to escape.

That attack came nearly a month after a deadly airstrike on militant-hijacked petrol trucks in the same province.

The September 4 airstrike was ordered by a German colonel on fuel trucks after the military thought they could be used against the German forces in the area.

The air raid resulted in the deaths of up to 99 Afghans, including about 30 civilians, according to Afghan government reports.