18 civilians killed in Helmand bomb: Afghan police

KANDAHAR: Eighteen civilians died when a roadside bomb destroyed their minivan in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province on Friday, a day after a Taliban attack in Uruzgan killed 21 people.

The latest bomb blast comes as UN figures show civilian deaths up 15 percent in the first half of this year, reaching record levels in the long war between insurgents and Kabul's Western-backed government, supported by Nato-led troops.

Afghan General Sayed Malook said the vehicle was in Nahri Sarraj district, travelling to the provincial capital Lashkar Gah 35 kilometres (20 miles) away, when it was hit.

"The reports that I've received from the scene indicate that all 18 people in the vehicle have been killed," said deputy police chief Kamaluddin Shirzai.

"We have been able to identify the bodies of one woman and three men so far," he said, adding that police were still working at the scene of the blast.

A spokesman for the rebel group denied responsibility for Friday's bomb.

Shirzai said four policeman were also killed and another wounded in a clash with insurgents overnight near where Friday's bomb went off, though it was not clear if the two incidents were connected.

"In the same area where the civilian van was hit, there was a clash last night between the police and the insurgents that resulted in four policemen killed and one wounded," he said.

"The gunfight erupted after a police patrol was ambushed by armed insurgents. The clash went on for over an hour," he said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011