Children killed in Afghan blast

At least 11 people have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, police have said. The bomb hit a civilian vehicle in the Spin Boldak district in Kandahar province, whose passengers were on their way to visit a shrine. "Three women, three men and five children were killed," General Saifullah Hakim, a senior border police official, told the AFP news agency. "All of them were civilians. They were going to a shrine when their vehicle was hit by a newly planted bomb." There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Hakim blamed Taliban fighters. General Abdul Raziq, border police chief for Zabul and Kandahar provinces, speculated that his forces may have been the intended target of the blast because as there is a police post on the same road.