A roadside bomb blast hit a mini van in southern Afghanistan today, killing nine civilians and wounding eight others, officials said.
The spokesperson for the Kandahar provincial government, Zalmai Ayoubi, said four women and three children were among those who died in the blast in Maywand district of the province. The eight injured people were taken to a hospital run by Nato troops, he said.
Violence has spiked recently in Afghanistan's volatile south as Taliban insurgents step up attacks ahead of a planned major operation by Nato forces to secure the main city of Kandahar.
Ayoubi said the group was traveling from their village toward Kandahar city, and the explosion occurred after the driver turned off the main road to go around a section that was damaged.
Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban and the current focus of US commanders' plans to bring an end to the nearly 9-year-old insurgency.
Violence in Afghanistan has risen sharply in recent weeks. At least 30 NATO troops have been killed so far this month, 20 of them US service members, including an American who died Thursday from a roadside bomb.
Taliban insurgents shot down a US helicopter over Helmand, another southern province on Wednesday, killing four American troops.
Many civilians have also been victims. An explosion at a wedding party on Wednesday in a village near Kandahar killed at least 40 people and wounded 74.
