News / Afghanistan

Roadside bomb kills 5 civilians in northwestern Afghanistan

Friday, 06 May 2016 12:43 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 06 May 2016 12:58 AM ]

An Afghan security personnel inspects the site of a bomb attack in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, on April 11, 2016. ©Xinhua

At least five civilians have lost their lives and as many sustained injuries in a bomb explosion that destroyed their vehicle in Afghanistan’s northwestern province of Badghis.

Deputy provincial police chief, Abdul Ali Zamani, said on Thursday that the victims' van touched off the improvised explosive device along a road in the Qadis district of the province the previous day.

Zamani blamed the Taliban for the attack, although the militant group has not yet claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices are by far the most lethal weapons Taliban militants use against Afghan forces, foreign troopers and civilians.

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity 15 years after the United States and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror.

The war removed the Taliban from power but insecurity is still rampant in the country despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops.

The Taliban militant group recently announced the start of its annual spring offensive against Afghan security forces and US-led foreign forces across the conflict-ridden country.

The Taliban said in a statement that the campaign had begun on April 12. The militants dubbed the offensive “Operation Omari” in honor of the Taliban founder and long-time leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who purportedly died at a hospital in Karachi, the main seaport and financial center of Pakistan, in April 2013.

The Taliban promised “large scale attacks on enemy positions… tactical attacks against enemy strongholds and assassination of enemy commanders in urban centers.”

A massive Taliban attack killed 64 people and left 347 others wounded in the capital, Kabul, on April 19.

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