10 kids killed in Afghanistan bomb blast

Kabul: At least 10 children were killed and two wounded Monday when a bomb went off in Afghanistan`s Nangarhar province, police said.

"The innocent children were collecting firewood in Salozai area of Chaparhar district at around 9 a.m. when one of them stepped on a bomb, triggering a powerful blast," police spokesman in the province Hazrat Housain Mashriqiwal told Xinhua. He said all the dead children were girls aged from eight to 12 years and that the injured was a boy in a critical condition. Nangarhar province is 120 km east of capital city of Kabul. The police official blamed Taliban insurgents for planting the bomb in the area to target security forces. Taliban militants, who have been waging an insurgency of more than one decade, have often attacked the Afghan force and the NATO-led force with roadside bombs. The Taliban have not yet commented. A total of 967 Afghan civilians, including 355 children, were killed and 1,590 injured in conflicts from August 1 to October 31 in the insurgency-hit country, according to a UN quarterly report released Friday. IANS