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4 militants killed in premature blast in Afghanistan

Xinhua, February 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

About four militants were killed and three others wounded in a blast in Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni overnight, provincial governor said on Thursday.

"Seven members of Taliban militants were busy building an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to plant and target security forces Wednesday night. The device went off accidently, killing four, including a militants' local leader named Mullah Badar,and injuring three others," governor Amanullah Hamim told Xinhua.

The incident took place inside a local seminary in Mustawfi village of Andar district in southern outskirts of provincial capital Ghazni city, 125 km south of Afghan capital of Kabul, the governor added.

The insurgent group 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.

More than 3,540 civilians were killed and over 7,450 others injured in 2015 as the violence spreads in different places of the country, according to a report released by United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Out of the casualties, 713 civilians were killed and more than 1, 650 injured by IED attacks last year, according to the report. Enditem