Roadside bomb kills 2 Afghan civilians, day after rocket killed 4 others

Roadside bomb kills 2 Afghan civilians

KABUL — A roadside bomb struck a car Monday in southeastern Afghanistan, killing two civilians a day after an insurgent rocket killed four other civilians, authorities said.

Monday’s bombing happened in Zabul province, said Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, a spokesman for the provincial governor. On Sunday, an insurgent rocket — apparently fired at a NATO convoy — missed its target and hit a civilian vehicle in southern Helmand province, killing four people, provincial government spokesman Daoud Ahmadi said.

The civilian deaths — a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan — come as President Hamid Karzai meets Monday with American officials in Washington, with violence and insecurity high on the agenda. Karzai’s trip comes after months of rocky relations with the Obama administration.

At least 2,412 Afghan civilians were killed in fighting last year — up 14 percent from 2008, according to the United Nations. About two-thirds of the civilian deaths were a result of actions initiated by the insurgents. The percentage of civilian deaths attributed to NATO and Afghan government forces had dropped.

Also Monday, NATO said one of its service members died in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan. The alliance gave no further details of the attack that happened Sunday.

The death brings to 12 the number of NATO forces killed this month in Afghanistan.

The Interior Ministry also reported that a roadside bomb struck a police vehicle in Helmand Sunday, killing four officers.

In northeastern Afghanistan, floods destroyed hundreds of homes overnight. Nobody was reported killed in the floods, although homes built into the mountainside were destroyed, Baghlan provincial governor Munshi Abdul Majid said.