1st LD Writethru: 3 civilians killed in IED blast in N. Afghanistan

Some three civilians were killed while 13 others wounded after a minibus ran over an improvised explosive device in northern Afghanistan's province of Jawzjan on Saturday, police said. "The incident occurred along a road in Fayz Abad district at around 7:30 a.m. local time. Most of the victims were elderly people traveling to provincial capital to receive their retirement wages,"Gen. Faqir Ahmad Jazjani, provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

The injured were shifted by police to a nearby hospital, the source said, while blaming the Taliban insurgent group for the attack.

The Taliban has largely been using home-made IEDs to launch suicide attacks and roadside bombings against security forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians.

Nearly 1,600 civilians were killed and more than 3,300 others wounded in conflicts and attacks in the first half of the year, according to UN mission figures.

The officials blamed the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups for vast majority of the civilian deaths and injuries.

In a separate development, four Taliban militants were killed and four others wounded after security forces launched an offensive in surrounding area of Pul-e-Khumir, provincial capital of neighboring Baghlan province earlier on Saturday, the provincial police Chief Gen. Abdul Jabar Purdili told Xinhua. Endi