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Roadside bombings kill 11 civilians in S. Afghanistan
July-13-2010

Two separate roadside bomb blasts in Taliban hub Helmand province and neighboring Zabul province in southern Afghanistan left 11 civilians dead and eight others injured, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

According to an Interior Ministry statement, in the first explosion, eight civilians were killed and seven others including three women and two children injured as a civilian minibus ran over a roadside bomb in precinct four of Lashkar Gah city the capital of Helmand province on Monday.

"All wounded persons had been taken by police to nearby hospital," the statement said.

A day earlier on Sunday, the statement said three civilians were killed and another sustained injures as a tractor hit a mine in Shamalzai district of the neighboring Zabul province.

"The Interior Ministry strongly condemns the inhuman acts," it said.

Notorious for growing poppy and militancy, the Helmand and neighboring Zabul, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces in southern Afghanistan have been regarded as Taliban stronghold in the war- torn country.

A total of 1,074 civilians have been killed and over 1,500 others were injured in Taliban-led violent attacks in the country over the first six months of this year, an independent human rights group- Afghanistan Rights Monitor- said in its report on Monday.