Afghan Bomb Kills Seven Civilians

A roadside bomb ripped through a passenger bus, killing seven civilians and wounding more than a dozen others in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said.

Three children and one woman were among the dead, police said.

The bus was driving from the main southern city of Kandahar to the Afghan capital Kabul when it hit the bomb in Muqur district of Ghazni province, a flashpoint in a 12-year Taliban insurgency.

"Seven civilians, including three children and one woman, were killed and 17 wounded," Assadullah Safi, deputy provincial police chief, told Agence France Presse.

Baz Mohammad Emat, the director of Ghazni central hospital, said that some of the wounded people were in a critical condition.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Afghan interior ministry blamed the Taliban, who have been leading a bloody insurgency since their regime was toppled in late 2001.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed both by insurgents and NATO and Afghan forces since the Taliban launched an insurgency in 2001 after being deposed in a U.S.-led invasion.

Afghan officials said that a NATO air strike last Saturday killed at least 16 civilians in eastern Kunar province.

NATO denied any civilians were killed and said 10 militants had died in the attack.