Atleast 34 killed in highway blast in Afghanistan

A bus in western Afghanistan was hit by a roadside mine explosion on Herat-Kandahar on Wednesday morning that killed at least 34 passengers, including children and injured 17, official said.

The incident has taken place at Shawis area of Farah province at around 7 a.m. early morning.

The passengers were reportedly travelling from Farah to the Western Herat province when it struck and Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a health official, Mohammad Ibrahimi said.

Meanwhile, a security official said that the Talibanmilitants had planted the mine at the area.

Taliban militants frequently use improvised explosivedevices to target the security forces but majority of such attacks inflictcasualties on ordinary civilians.

No group or individual including Taliban militant group hasclaimed responsibility for the explosion.