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Roundup: Rocket attack, mortar shell kill 8 civilians, wound 12 in Afghanistan

Xinhua, December 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Rocket attack and mortar firing have killed eight civilians and injured a dozen others in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni and Wardak provinces on Friday, officials said.

In the latest violent incident that occurred in a village of Wardak province, eight civilians were killed and two others injured, provincial governor, Hayatullah Hayat said.

"During clash between security forces and the armed militants which erupted in Dando Khil village of Sayedabad district this morning, a rocket fired by insurgents slammed into residential area, leaving eight innocent civilians dead and two others injured," Hayat told Xinhua.

Meantime, Taliban militants rejected their involvement in firing rockets and killing civilians in the area.

The villagers, however, took the dead bodies to the provincial government, demanding authorities bring to justice those involved in murdering civilians.

Governor Hayat said a fact-finding mission had been sent into the rocket-hit area to investigate the case and identify those behind the deadly attack.

In a similar violent incident which happened in the neighboring Ghazni province, up to 10 non-combatants sustained injuries, police said.

"Taliban rebels targeted Zana Khan district with mortar shell early Friday, but it struck a house, wounding 10 people, all civilians including seven children, some of them in critical condition," provincial police chief Aminullah Omarkhil told Xinhua.

Taliban militants who are active in parts of Ghazni province have yet to claim responsibility.

Ghazni province with Ghazni city as its capital 125 km south of Kabul has been the scene of Taliban-led militancy over the past few years.

Afghan civilians often bear the brunt of conflicts in their militancy-plagued country as 1,592 civilians had been killed and 3,329 others injured in the first six months of 2015, according to a report of UN office. Enditem