Roadside bomb kills 8 in western Afghanistan

At least eight people have been killed and about 40 others injured in a roadside bomb attack that hit a passenger bus in Afghanistan’s western province of Farah, officials say.

At least eight people have been killed and about 40 others injured in a roadside bomb attack that hit a passenger bus in Afghanistan’s western province of Farah, officials say.

The blast occurred in the Bala Baluk district of Farah at 4:30 am (0000 GMT) on Tuesday, provincial governor spokesman Naser Mehri said.

“It was a bomb planted by the Taliban to hit security forces, but unfortunately, it got a passenger bus,” Farah provincial police spokesman Muhibullah Muhib said.

The Taliban have a heavy presence in the province, but they are yet to claim responsibility for the attack.

Photos circulated on social media purportedly of the incident showed the blackened shell of the bus and Afghan men standing at the scene.

Most of those wounded in the Tuesday explosion were reportedly women and children.