By Sahil Mangal & Mahbob Shah Mahbob
At least 15 civilians, including eight of a family, were injured in two separate bomb explosions in eastern Nangarhar and southeastern Paktia provinces on Wednesday, officials said.
The eight members of a family were travelling in a rickshaw in Behsud district of Nangarhar in the morning when a roadside bomb ripped through the vehicle, leaving all of them injured.
Afghan people gather at the vehicle blown by a suicide bomb in Ghazni province on September 28, 2010. (Photo: Mustafa Andalib/Reuters)
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the governor’s spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the bomb had been planted to target an Afghan National Army (ANA) vehicle, but it hit the three-wheeler. Among the wounded people, five are children.
A doctor at the provincial civil hospital confirmed receiving the eight injured civilians at the hospital. They included two women, five children and a man, he said, describing the condition of one of them as critical.
Elsewhere, several people were wounded in a similar blast in Paktia on Wednesday noon, confirmed the acting governor, Abdul Wali Sahi.
The blast occurred near a fuel station in Gardez, the provincial capital, he said, but gave no specific figures for those injured.
However, Paktia civil hospital director Dr. Haya Gul Paktin said eight injured people, including a policeman, were evacuated from the blast site to the hospital.
Four of the wounded persons who had severe burn injuries were referred to the central capital Kabul for treatment.
There has been no claim of responsibility for both the blasts.