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Afghan minibus blast kills 17
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An explosion on a minibus in southern Afghanistan has killed 17 people, including children, police say. One official quoted by news agencies says the bomb was planted by fighters from the deposed Taliban regime. The blast went off Wednesday morning in Nadi Ali district to the west of the capital of Lashkargah in the southern Helmand province. Helmand neighbors Kandahar province, long a stronghold of the Taliban. Among the dead were six children and a woman, Ghulam Mahaiuddin, head of the provincial administration, told news agencies. The total number of people in the Lashkargah-bound bus was not immediately known. Small vans are a common mode of transportation between cities and rural areas. The bomb seemed to have gone off accidentally inside the bus and may have been intended for an attack on independence celebrations to be held in Lashkargah next week, he added. No one has claimed responsibility, and no arrests were made. But officials have blamed the explosion on guerrillas from the Taliban regime overthrown in late 2001 and said it was possible the bomber was killed in the blast. The attack comes days after NATO took command of peacekeeping in the Afghan capital, the alliance's first operation outside Europe since it was formed 54 years ago. (Full story) The peacekeeping force was created in December 2001 to bolster security in Kabul in the wake of the U.S.-led war that toppled the Taliban, which had granted haven to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network. The Afghan government has called for the peacekeeping force to go beyond Kabul, particularly with elections set for June 2004, but no nation has supported that endeavor, which would require at least 10,000 more troops. Outside the capital, much of Afghanistan is ruled by rival warlords and U.S. forces are still battling Taliban remnants who are waging an insurgency along the southern and eastern border with Pakistan. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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