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Conflicts claim over 150 lives in Afghanistan in one week

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-29 23:02

KABUL: Growing Taliban-linked violent incidents and conflicts in Afghanistan have claimed the lives of more than 150 people, with majority of them civilians over the past one week.

In the latest string of violence in the militancy-plagued country, a roadside bomb struck a passenger bus Tuesday morning in Taliban former stronghold Kandahar, killing 30 persons and wounding 39 others.

"In the tragic incident occurred in Maiwand district of Kandahar province this morning, 30 innocent civilians including 10 children, seven women and 13 men have been killed and 39 others sustained injuries," a statement of the Interior Ministry released here said.

Blaming the enemies of Afghanistan, a term used against Taliban insurgents for organizing the bloody attack, the statement stressed the bus was heading from Herat to the capital city Kabul when the tragic incident occurred.

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A similar incident in the same district on Monday also killed and injured five commuters of a car, the statement said.

On Monday, 40 suspected Taliban insurgents were killed as Afghan and the Coalition forces launched operation in Farah province west of Afghanistan.

"Over 40 Taliban militants were killed during a joint operation launched by Afghan national army and US Marines in Shiwan village of Balabluk district where the militants have been active for a long time," Abdul Wakil Ghori, an Afghan army spokesman told Xinhua.

Six Afghan and three US soldiers were also wounded during the operation which lasted for several hours, the official further said.

The militants in efforts to mount pressure on the establishment attacked a convoy of private trucks in the eastern Kunar province on Sunday, killing six drivers and set on fire six trucks.

Growing insurgency and conflicts have also claimed the lives of NATO-led peacekeeping force ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) over the past seven days.

"Three International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service members died as a result of enemy activity in southern Afghanistan, and three other ISAF service members died from a non-combat related incident in eastern Afghanistan, in the last 24 hours," a press release of the alliance issued Sunday said.

Moreover, dozens of people including five US soldiers and 20 Taliban insurgents had been killed in hostile fires, roadside bomb and air raids last Wednesday and Thursday mostly in the volatile southern region.

The vast majority of the war victims in Afghanistan are non- combatants as a report released by the United Nations recently says 1,500 civilians have been killed in attacks by both the Taliban insurgents and the Afghan and the international forces up to the month of August.

In the previous report, the U.N. said that Afghan civilian casualties had increased 24 percent in June against the same period last year.

More than 6,000 people, with over 2,100 of them civilians, had lost their lives in violent incidents in 2008 in war-plagued Afghanistan and the number is expected to go up this year.