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Roundup: Afghan militancy claims 33 lives, mostly civilians in 3 days

Xinhua, March 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Conflicts and militancy have claimed the lives of 33 people with majority of them civilians in Afghanistan since Sunday.

In the latest violent incident, unknown armed men opened fire on passenger vehicles in the central Wardak province in the wee hours of Tuesday, killing 13 people, all civilians. "A group of unknown armed shot at three vehicles, including a bus, killing 13 passengers and injuring two others in Wardak province on Tuesday morning," the provincial government said in a statement.

One woman was among those killed and his nine-year-old son aboard the bus was wounded, the statement added.

The firing took place in Haft Hasyab locality of Sayyed Abad district along the main road connecting national capital Kabul to Taliban former stronghold the southern Kandahar province, the statement asserted.

In the previous bloody incident which occurred in Wardak's neighboring province Ghazni, five civilians had been killed as a bomb exploded on a playground on Monday. "Five teens were killed and 10 others injured after a bomb went off on the playground in Qala-e-Qazi locality of Ghazni's provincial capital the Ghazni city around midday on Monday when some people were playing football," deputy to provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi said.

The bomb was planted in a bicycle, parked near the playground where the teenagers were playing, the official said.

A day earlier on Sunday, two civilians were killed and two others injured as an explosive device went off in Khost city, the capital of the eastern Khost province, deputy to provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqub confirmed.

Moreover, a gun battle between security forces and Taliban militants claimed the lives of 13 people including seven militants, two police and four civilians and injuring seven others, all civilians in the northern Saripul province on Sunday night," head of Saripul provincial council, Mohammad Noor Rahmani said.

Civilians often bear the brunt of conflicts in Afghanistan as nearly 3,700 civilians were killed and more than 6,800 others wounded in conflicts and Taliban-led militancy in 2014 in the war- weary Afghanistan, according to a report released in February by the UN mission in the country. Endi