A roadside bomb killed 11 people mainly from one family in northwest Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday, the latest civilians to die during the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.
The blast struck a police vehicle in Badghis province Monday, killing two officers plus nine civilians from the same family including six children, two women and one man, the interior ministry said in a statement.
It added that the police had been giving a lift to a “poor and needy family” in Qadis district but Badghis provincial council chairman Faizullah Azimi said the family’s vehicle had been following the police truck.
“Their vehicle was struck by a Taliban-planted roadside bomb resulting in the death of 11 people including 6 children, two women, one man and two policemen,” the ministry’s statement said.
“Three others including one child and two policemen were injured. Nine of the martyrs are members of the same family.”
Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi in Kabul called the attack “cowardly”.
The blast came days after Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar urged his fighters to avoid civilian casualties in the decade-long war.
On Friday, the Taliban published a statement on their website attributed to Omar calling on fighters “to take every step to protect the lives and wealth of ordinary people”.
The statement, issued to mark Eid al-Adha, warned of punishments under Islamic Sharia law for fighters responsible for civilian deaths.
But Sediqqi said: “Despite their statement the other day about protecting civilian lives, the Taliban once again proved that they do not care about the lives of men, women and children.”
The Taliban’s spokesman was not immediately reachable to comment on the latest attack.
Monday was the second day of Eid al-Adha, when many Afghans celebrate by visiting friends and family.
It was not the first attack during Eid in Afghanistan. On Sunday, a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people returning from prayers at a mosque in the northern city of Baghlan.
