Blast Kills 11 Family Members On Way To Wedding In Afghanistan

A suspected roadside bomb has killed 11 people from the same family on their way to a wedding in the eastern Afghan province of Logar, local officials said.

Five children, five women, and a man were killed when their vehicle hit the explosive device in Logar's Muhammad Agha district on May 19, district Governor Nasir Amin said.

Amin said that all the victims were members of the same family.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but news agencies quoted Logar police chief Esmatullah Alizai as saying the roadside bomb is thought to have been planted by the Taliban.

At least 3,498 civilians were killed and 7,920 were wounded across Afghanistan in 2016, a combined rise of 3 percent over the previous year, according to a UN report published in February.

Improvised explosive devices or homemade bombs were among the most common causes of Afghan civilian casualties last year, accounting for 19 percent of all dead and injured, according to the UN.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters