Two roadside bombs killed 11 people in Afghanistan today, including passengers on a bus that took a detour to avoid a bomb-laden road, officials said.
Roadside bombs are a major threat to civilians in this country, where Taliban insurgents have escalated their activities as US-led foreign forces withdraw.
A bus traveling to Kabul from southern Helmand province had to take a desert path because the road it would have normally used was closed to allow NATO troops to defuse a roadside bomb. Instead, the bus hit another such explosive along its detour in Muqur district of Ghazni province, said Assadullah Ensafi, the provincial deputy police chief.
The seven dead included three children, while 17 people were wounded in the explosion, he said.
Separately, in Helmand's Musa Khela district, a car hit a roadside bomb, killing one woman and three men, said Ummar Zawaq, spokesman for the provincial governor. Eight people were hurt, including three children, he said.
Also today, a suicide car bomb went off in front of an Afghan National Army security post in Logar province's Khushi district.
Deputy police chief Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai says the explosion wounded four Afghan soldiers.
