At least 13 members of two families including children were killed in a roadside mine blast in northern Kunduz province on Wednesday, local officials said on Thursday.
One person was wounded and hospitalized.
The incident happened at 4pm local time in Imam Sahib district while the families were traveling to attend a wedding party and their vehicle struck a roadside mine that exploded, according to officials.
Six women, six children and one man were killed, officials said.
“We were travelling to Imam Sahib to a wedding party and our vehicle struck a mine. My wife, four children, mother, sister and two of my nephews were killed,” said a man who survived the blast along with his young daughter.
“Today, we are carrying the bodies of 13 family members who were killed in the blast,” said Safiullah Amiry, the deputy provincial council of Kunduz. He said “the incident shocked people everywhere.”
Gen. Abdul Rashid Bashir, the provincial police chief, claimed that the mine was placed by the Taliban.
“The vehicle hit a roadside mine that was placed by the Taliban and killed 13 people,” Gen. Bashir said.
On Wednesday, local officials said that 15 civilians were killed in the attack.
In the meantime, President Ghani in a statement on Thursday condemned the blast that killed civilians in the “Taliban’s” mine explosion, and said that “this attack showed that the Taliban are enemies of the people.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry “expressed its strong condemnation” of the blast, saying Qatar rejects “violence and terrorism, regardless of the motives and causes.”
No group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blast.
