At Least 76 Civilians Killed, Wounded In Bombings In Afghanistan In Past 24 Hours -Sources

KABUL (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2019) At least 76 Afghan civilians have been killed or wounded in separate incidents across the country on Monday, marking another deadly day for the country despite US-Taliban peace talks aimed at ending the country's 18-year war, local officials and sources said.

The deadliest civilians casualties on Sunday night were caused by US and Afghan forces joint airstrike and raids in the province of Uruzgan that killed or wounded 35 civilians, according to former governor of the province, Amanullah Temori, who claimed several of his family members were among those dead and buried by the bombing.

The provincial officials denied to comment on the incident.

The latest attack, which occurred Monday afternoon in Kandahar Province, involved an explosion of a roadside bomb near a vehicle full of people in Khakrez District. No militant group claimed responsibility for the blast, but roadside bombs targeting Afghan forces is a common tactic that has been previously used by Taliban militants, becoming a major cause of civilian casualties.

According to relatives of victims, the incident occurred while the vehicle was heading to a nearby area to visit a religious site.

"Eleven civilians, including four women and children, were killed and 30 more wounded when a bus full of passengers was hit by a roadside bomb today afternoon," the head of a local hospital in the city of Kandahar, Naimatullah, told Sputnik.

According to a local resident, who spoke to Sputnik by phone, those killed and wounded were taken to hospitals with a more than five-hour delay due to bad roads, which increased the number of those dead.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani shared condolences to the victims and expressed hope for their recovery.

The seventh round of peace talks between the Taliban and the United States ended Tuesday as US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, who leads the talks, departed for China. Khalilzad wrote on Twitter that he would also go to Washington afterward to further discuss the Afghan peace process.

The Afghan government has so far been excluded from peace talks between the United States and the Taliban, which began in early 2019 and focus on the withdrawal of the foreign troops. The Taliban say they will not start negotiations with the Afghan government until a timeline for foreign troop withdrawal is announced.