[Iran Press TV Latest] A roadside bomb explosion has killed at least 11 civilians in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand.Daud Ahmadi, the Helmand governor's spokesman, blamed the attack on the Taliban and said two women and two children were among the dead. Ahmadi told journalists on Sunday that "a civilian car struck a roadside bomb in Nawzad district" in the north of the province.
Elsewhere, in southern Afghanistan, two separate bomb blasts have reportedly killed six Afghan police officers. Four officers were killed in Khost province, while two others lost their lives in Kandahar. The Taliban has reportedly claimed responsibility both attacks.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN secretary general's special representative for children and armed conflict, said earlier in the month that 346 children were killed in Afghan last year. "131 of these were by aerial strikes, 22 by search-and-raid by Special Forces; 128 were killed by anti-Government elements, including assassinations and suicide bombings," visiting Coomaraswamy added.
Thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives since the 2001 US-led invasion, and subsequently occupation, of Afghanistan.