Nine children killed in Afghanistan stan mine blast

Nine Afghan children were killed on Saturday when a mine exploded as they walked to school, police said, the latest victims in a growing toll of civilian casualties in the war.

The blast happened in the northeastern province of Takhar. Saturday is a school day in Afghanistan.

“This area is under Taliban control and since security forces launched attacks to clear it, the Taliban have planted anti-personnel mines,” Khalil Asir, a spokesman for the provincial police, told Reuters.

“Unfortunately, today, one of those mines exploded and killed nine primary school students,” he said.

The children, aged nine to 12, included four from what Asir described as a “Taliban family”.

A spokesman for the Taliban, who are fighting to oust foreign troops and defeat the U.S.-backed government, was not immediately available for comment.

A record 4,313 civilians were injured or killed between July and September, a 42 percent increase from the same period last year, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said last month.