Afghan truck blast claims children's lives: Police

An overturned truck rigged with explosives blew up near Kabul on Thursday, killing 25 people including many school students in one of the deadliest blasts this year in war-torn Afghanistan, police said.

Loaded with firewood, the truck overturned overnight about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the capital in Logar province and exploded as authorities were trying to remove the vehicle in the early morning, they said.

The attack comes as Western militaries boost their troop deployments to Afghanistan ahead of key presidential and provincial council elections scheduled for August 20.

"In the explosion today 21 civilians and four policemen have been martyred," provincial police chief Ghulam Mustafa Mohsini told AFP.

School children dead

At least 13 of those killed were children from a nearby school, said Kamaluddin Zadran, a provincial official

"The civilians include school students and male elders. Four others including three students and one civilian man have been wounded," he said.

The students were struck as they were going to area schools -- the first educates pupils aged nine to 12 years old and the second students aged between 16 and 18, locals said.

Some of the children who died in the explosion were believed to be aged 10 to 12 years. Police said some bodies were burned beyond recognition.

The interior ministry in Kabul gave the same death toll.

"A total of 25 people have been killed and four are wounded including three children," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

"Police went in the morning to see and open the road. As police arrived at the scene the truck exploded and unfortunately killed 21 civilians and four policemen."

The civilians include school students and male elders. Four others including three students and one civilian man have been wounded

Ghulam Mustafa Mohsini, police

The blast created a large crater in the ground and caused widespread damage, he said.

It was not clear if the truck was headed to the capital to carry out an attack or had been intended to explode where it did, the official said.

"We don't know at this stage. There was no driver in the morning with the truck. We are still investigating the issue," he said.

The governor of Mohammad Agha district, where the explosion took place, said 12 bodies were initially identified and that most of them were school students.

"We are still trying to recover bodies from under the debris of collapsed shops. There are more people dead," said the official, Abdul Hameed Hamid.

Hamid said it appeared the truck was deliberately overturned in time to explode as authorities arrived.

Three shops were totally destroyed and windows smashed up to one kilometer (half-mile) away from the explosion, he said.

The blast took place on a main road from southern and eastern Afghanistan that heads into the capital Kabul. The truck was heading towards Kabul, said provincial government spokesman Din Mohammad Darwish.

"It seems that the explosives were remotely detonated as a crowd gathered around the truck in the morning," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

It seems that the explosives were remotely detonated as a crowd gathered around the truck in the morning

Din Mohammad Darwish, govt spokesman

NATO

On Wednesday two NATO soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance said in a statement issued Thursday but did not identify the location of the blast or the nationalities of the victims.

NATO forces in the south include U.S. Marines and troops from Britain, Canada and other nations, all engaged in a major anti-Taliban offensive under the alliance's command in the volatile region.

In the southern province of Zabul, Afghan and coalition troops battled Taliban militants who attacked a government center in Suri district early Thursday. Fifteen insurgents were killed and another was detained, said provincial police chief Abdul Rehman Sarjang.

Four years of bombing

Afghanistan has for years suffered a wave of bombings by Islamist insurgents, including those waged by the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001 until they were ousted by a U.S.-led invasion.

The rising violence prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to pledge 21,200 more troops, most of whom are already in the country as part of a sweeping new strategy to try to stabilize the country ahead of the elections next month.

Nearly 4,200 newly deployed Marines last week launched a major operation in Taliban strongholds in the southern province of Helmand where thousands of British troops are also operating.

The commander of U.S. Marines said Wednesday there was an urgent need for more Afghan security forces as well as civilian experts to back up the offensive.