Roadside bombs have killed 17 people in southern Afghanistan, including 13 who died when an explosion ripped through the van they were travelling in on Saturday morning, the government said. The Ministry of Interior said four women and two children were among those who died in the van in Shamulzayi district of Zabul province.
In neighbouring Kandahar province, two civilians riding a donkey were killed Friday night when the animal stepped on a bomb in Maruf district, said General Abdul Raziq, police chief in Kandahar province. When villagers came to recover the bodies, another roadside bomb went off and killed two more civilians, he said.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attacks, saying in a statement that "bombings that kill innocent civilians are the work of people who don't want the nation to have a life without sadness." Also in the south on Saturday, two gunmen on a motorcycle killed Wakil Mohammad Khan, a member of the local council in Nahri Sarraj district of Helmand province, the interior ministry said.
Separately, Nato reported the deaths of two coalition service members in roadside bombings one Saturday in the west and the other Friday in the south. Italian defence officials said the service member killed in the west was an Italian who died when a bomb exploded near a village in Farah province. In Kabul, about 500 demonstrators chanted "Death to the Pakistan military!" and "Long live Afghanistan!" as they protested against rocket attacks that have killed at least 36 civilians, including 12 children.
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