28 Jul 2010

At least 20 killed in Afghan bus attack

8:47 pm on 28 July 2010

At least 20 people have been killed and 25 injured in a roadside bomb attack on a crowded bus in south-western Afghanistan.

The governor of Nimrod province, where the blast occurred, says the incident took place on the main road from Nimroz to Kabul.

The BBC reports the roadside bomb hit the bus crammed with passengers not long after it set out early on Wednesday on the long journey from Kabul to Nimroz, a sparsely populated province in the deep southwest of the country beyond Helmund.

Many people have been seriously injured and the death toll is likely to rise.

It is not known whether there were any NATO troops on the road at the time. NATO and US-led forces are in their ninth year fighting Taliban insurgents.

There has been no statement from the Taliban on the incident.