26 killed in a single day of violence in Afghanistan

Aug 18, 2011, 14:43 GMT

Kabul - At least 26 people were killed in a series of violent attacks on Thursday in eastern and western Afghanistan, officials said.

Two roadside bombs within the same hour struck vehicles carrying civilians Thursday in western Afghanistan, killing at least 24 and injuring eleven.

Meanwhile in eastern Afghanistan, two Afghan security guards were killed when a suicide bomber targeted a US Army base.

All 22 people travelling in a minivan in the Obay district of western Herat province were killed in one explosion, provincial governor's spokesman Mohiuddin Nori said.

Another bomb struck a truck about the same time in the Kotal Turkistan area of the same district, injuring thirteen people.

Two of the injured died later in the hospital from wounds sustained during the explosion.

Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement said five women were killed and seven children under the age of five were among the injured in the two bombings.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attacks, calling the incidents 'unforgivable crimes committed in the holy month of Ramadan.'

'Once again, it indicates heinous and evil nature of the enemy,' Karzai said in a statement.

In the incident targetting US Army base in eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber in a car tried to enter the base in Gardez, capital of Paktiya province, but failed, an official with NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

He blew himself up in front of the base, said Rohullah Samoon, spokesman for the governor of Paktiya, a province that borders the volatile tribal regions of Pakistan.

Seven guards were injured, Samoon said.

The Afghan guards were employed by a local security company.

No troops - Afghan or international - were hurt, the ISAF official said.

Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack on US Army base but declined involvement of militants on the roadside bomb killings.

The Taliban have relied heavily on roadside bombs in their nearly 10-year insurgency to target Afghan and international troops but they have extracted a large toll on civilians.

A UN report on civilian causalities in the war released last month said more than 1,460 civilians were killed in the first six months of the year, an increase of 15 per cent compared with the same period last year.

In another incident, three Afghan policemen were killed by Afghan army soldiers in a spat between the two security forces in volatile southern province of Kandahar, an official said Thursday.

The clash took place Wednesday evening between the policemen and the soldiers in Zhari district of Kandahar province, Neyaz Mohammad, a border police commander said.

12 others - three policemen, three soldiers and six civilians - were injured in the crossfire.

Afghan army officials in Kandahar declined to comment on the incident.

Last week, four Afghan policemen were allegedly killed by the international forces in neighbouring Arghandab district of the same province.