Blast kills four Afghan civilians

Agence France Presse

A roadside bomb killed four civilians in southern Afghanistan, authorities said Sunday, as tension over the deaths of non-combatants in military operations rises between Kabul and foreign allies.

The four were killed Saturday when their vehicle struck a bomb planted on a road in Kandahar province, the interior ministry said blaming the strike on the insurgents.

The Taliban frequently use home-made bombs and landmines in their attacks on military targets. The devices however, often kill civilians sharing the same roads with the Afghan and foreign military and security forces.

According to a report by the United Nations and the war-torn country's leading Human Rights body, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, 9,000 civilians have lost their lives in crossfire between Afghan and foreign security forces and the rebels since 2007.

The report said 2010 was the deadliest for Afghan civilians since the war began in 2001 with 2,777 deaths, the bulk caused by insurgents.

President Hamid Karzai rejected an apology by the commander of the US-led NATO force earlier this month over the deaths of nine children killed in an air attack carried out by the troops in the province of Kunar.

Karzai on Saturday went to the mountainous and insurgency-troubled province to meet families of the children and called on the Western troops to stop military operations in his battered country.

Karzai urged the US and NATO to shift the war on insurgents to neighbouring Pakistan where Afghan leaders say most insurgent leaders are based and launch attacks on Afghan targets.

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