At least 15 killed in Afghan blast, all children

GHAZNI: A motorbike loaded with explosives blew up in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 15 people at a religious ceremony, with all of the victims children, officials said.

“Unfortunately, as a result of this incident 15 people, all children, were martyred,” said Wahedullah Jumazada, spokesman for the governor of Ghazni province, where the explosion took place. Ghazni police confirmed the blast, and that all those killed were children.

“The explosives detonated at a gathering in Gilan district of Ghazni province,” said provincial governor’s spokesman Jumazada said earlier, adding that at least 20 were wounded at the time.

Interior ministry spokesman Tariq Arian confirmed the blast and said the explosives were loaded on a motorbike parked near a house in a village where the ceremony was being held. Taliban and government forces have regularly clashed in Ghazni. Thirty security personnel were killed last month when a suicide car bomber struck an Afghan army base near Ghazni city, the provincial capital.

The latest violence comes as the Taliban and Afghan government engage in peace talks to end the country’s grinding war.