A roadside bomb has killed at least 11 civilians, mostly women and children, in Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province.
The victims were returning from a wedding party Friday afternoon when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in the Mohammad Agha district, according to the provincial governor’s office.
There were five women and five children among the dead. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.
The deadly bombing came just days after the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned that the number of child deaths resulting from conflict-related incidents in the country have risen by 21 percent in the first four months of 2017.
The mission recorded 987 child casualties, including 283 deaths, between January 1 and April 30, the highest number of children killed for the same period since UNAMA began documenting Afghan civilian casualties.
Hours earlier on Friday, a roadside bomb hit an American military convoy north of the capital, Kabul, but “no injuries have been reported,” said the U.S. military.
Without sharing more details, a U.S. military spokesman told VOA “the disabled vehicle is being recovered and the convoy will continue and complete its mission.”
Local TOLOnews TV, however, quoted witnesses as saying the blast in Charikar, the capital of Parwan province, caused several casualties, without giving further details.
U.S. military convoys usually undertake missions together with Afghan security forces.
The Taliban instantly took credit for the violence, claiming it left several U.S. soldiers dead, though the insurgent group often issues inflated tolls for such attacks.
Separately, an Afghan policeman has gunned down five colleagues in the eastern Nangarhar province.
The overnight incident of a so-called “insider attack” happened at an outpost in the Ghanikhil district. The shooter fled the scene after collecting firearms of the victims.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility, though assailants often join Taliban ranks after committing the violence.
Nangarhar is where Islamic State militants stormed the provincial headquarters of the state-run Ration Television of Afghanistan, or RTA, earlier this week.
The suicide-bomb-and-gun attack left at least six people dead, including four RTA employees and two security forces, while many more were wounded.
Loyalists of the Syria-based terrorist group operate out of several remote districts in the province, which borders Pakistan.