AFGHANISTAN. Helmand. In a roadside bomb blast in the Helmand province in the south of Afghanistan, nine people, including women and children, were killed, and two others wounded on Thursday morning, security officials said.
The blast happened in the Bushran area of Lashkargah city when a civilian vehicle hit a roadside IED bomb, that killed two children in the boast, according to officials. Omar Zwak, the Helmand governor’s spokesman, said that nine people were killed and two children were injured in the incident.
Security officials said the IED had recently been planted by the Taliban, and no other groups have yet commented.
It comes days since there have been heavy clashes between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban in the Bushran area.
According to Zwak, the victims were all members of the same family and were displaced. They were reportedly on their way to Lashkargah city.
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Six other civilians were also killer in Ghor province in western Afghanistan. According to police they were stopped on their way to Herat and shot dead before their families by unknown men on Wednesday. The Ghor governor said the area where these people were killed is under Taliban control. But the Taliban has not made any comment yet.
At least one district of Laghman province called Dawlat Shah which was under the severe clashes of Taliban and government fell in the hands of the Taliban on Wednesday night. Weeks ago, the closes district to the Afghan capital Kabul also fell in the hands of the Taliban.
The clashes continue between the warring parties as the peace talks seem slimming hopes for resuming the Talks. In a recent comment to the Afghans, Zalmai Khalilzad, US special envoy for Afghan peace said, “the prediction that the Taliban will quickly overrun Afghan forces and conquer Kabul after the full withdrawal of international troops are unduly pessimistic.
“I personally believe that the statements that their forces will disintegrate and the Talibs will take over in short order are mistaken,” Khalilzad told the House Foreign Affairs Committee as quoted in a report by AP.
The violence resumes in Afghanistan, days after the Eid ceasefire ended, and has remained high in the country. The Defense Ministry reported clashes in 18 provinces just a day after the ceasefire ended.
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